Unfair to compare Waterloo region's COVID-19 vaccine rollout to other areas, officials say

Officials in Waterloo region have heard the comparisons people are making of the local vaccine rollout to other areas — areas that appear to be moving more quickly — and they say it's unfair to compare this community to others.

Some critics, particularly people on social media, have questioned whether the region is behind in vaccinating people when compared to other health units, including Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health, which started vaccinating people aged 80 and older more than a week ago.

Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, Region of Waterloo's medical officer of health, said "it's not the whole picture."

She said some areas received the vaccine before the region, other areas got it afterwards. During the later part of January and much of February, the province was trying to distribute the vaccine in an equitable way, Wang said, noting the region has only received the Pfizer-BioTech vaccine so far and not the Moderna vaccine.

Region of Waterloo Public Health plans to start vaccinating people aged 80 and older later this week, which is weeks ahead of the province's schedule. The province has said people in this age group should start to be vaccinated by March 15.

"Our goal is to get vaccine out as fast as it comes in to priority groups in the order of priority as determined by the province," Wang said.

WDG 'pretty efficient' with vaccines

Neighbouring Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health has been praised for its vaccine rollout. It began immunizing people 80 years old and over on Feb. 19. Last week on CBC Radio's Here and Now, medical officer of health Dr. Nicola Mercer said that as of last Thursday morning, 51 per cent of seniors over the age of 80 in the community had been immunized.

"And I'm hoping by Monday that that number is going to be quite a bit higher," Mercer said, adding 85 per cent of people 80 and over were also registered in the public health unit's own system.

When asked for the public health unit's secret, Mercer said it's "just ahead of the target" set by the province to start immunizing people 80 and older.

She noted her health unit bought the freezers needed to store the Pfizer-BioTech vaccine, which needs to be kept at a very low temperature, in December. The vaccine arrived at the health unit about three weeks behind other areas, including Waterloo region, but Mercer said "we've been pretty efficient to get it out the door."

Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph has started to run a large vaccination clinic in Fergus and it has received both the Pfizer-BioTech vaccine as well as the Moderna vaccine.

Where some areas have been administering doses to health-care workers first, then moving onto other people in the Phase One priority group, Mercer said her health unit took a slightly different approach.

"We just felt it was really important, after we got through that very high risk group in the homes, to start on community. So we've been doing this concurrently with our health-care workers," she said.

Why rollout takes longer in some places

Dr. Wang says while it may appear to some people that Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph is ahead, there are other health units that could be viewed as being behind the Region of Waterloo, including health units in the Greater Toronto Area that are still in the process of giving doses to people living and working at long-term care and high-risk retirement homes.

"I'm sure there is another health unit right now that's being asked, 'Why can't we do it as fast as Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph and Waterloo'," she said.

Waterloo Regional Police Services Deputy Chief Shirley Hilton, who also leads the region's vaccine task force, said communities across the province "are different and they have a different composition."

"Trying to compare two regions is a bit difficult," she said, adding even comparing Phase One populations across regions can prove complicated. One region might have more long-term care homes, or high-risk retirement homes than another — changing the number of health-care workers and residents. 

Wang also noted the region's supply of vaccine was "quite cut" by the province as it was diverted to other parts of Ontario to make distribution more equatable.

'Comparisons don't make sense'

Each public health unit in the province has been asked to develop their own plan for vaccine rollout, which then gets approved by the province.

The region's Chief Administrative Officer Bruce Lackner said he has resisted the urge to respond to people on social media who question if the region is going fast enough, while pointing to the work being done in other areas. He said "comparisons don't make sense" and they're not helpful.

Lauckner says he understands that people are feeling anxious about getting the vaccine but now that the region has started to say who is next in line, how they can pre-register to receive the vaccine and has announced sites for vaccination clinics, it's helping alleviate concerns.

"I think that's been well received by the community as people are starting to understand, OK, my parents are next, or this group is next, and we'll continue to do that in the weeks and months ahead," he said.

Wang said people in the region should know that staff continue to ramp up vaccinations as more doses are sent to the community.

"We're very happy and we're very pleased that we're able now to start offering to our 80-plus population and we're going to keep doing what we've done and get the vaccine out as fast as it comes in," she said.