New Middlesex County vaccination centre opens to serve rural residents
The centre is the second one to open in the Middlsex-London region
A second COVID-19 vaccination centre opened to the public in the London region, and delivered a dose of the Pfizer BioNTech shot to a woman who cares for her elderly parents living in a long-term care home.
"Every last little bit of extra safety net helps. I'm grateful, I'm pleased," said Anne Doherty, whose parents are 89- and 94-years-old and live at the McCormick Home.
"There should be no decision. Just do it. Do it for your kids, for yourself. It's no cost. It's an extra safety net. Just do it."
The new vaccination centre is located in Mount Brydges, west of London, at the Caradoc Community Centre.
"Having a vaccination clinic in Middlesex County is extremely important to the residents of the county and I'm so happy that the Middlesex-London Health Unit made it a priority in their vaccination plan to recognize the needs of rural residents," said Cathy Burghardt-Jesson, the warden of Middlsex County.
"Mount Brydges is as close to the centre of Middlesex County as you can get, it's accessible from every community. It's not going to be the answer for everyone, accessibility and transportation are always going to be issues, but this is as close to the centre as we can get."
When the clinic is fully operational, along with the London centre, about 1,000 vaccine shots a day will be given out, said Dr. Chris Mackie, the region's medical officer of health.
"Rural access is essential in this region. We serve a large population that is rurally based and it is incredibly important to have good access for those citizens," Mackie said.
Hundreds of shots a day
"Today is a very soft launch, a few dozen patients, and we plan to scale up over the next couple of days so we'll be doing into the hundreds every day."
Running the clinic is public health nurse Tracey Gordon, who is senior manager of the COVID-19 vaccine program. She came out of retirement when the pandemic began.
"This is a very exciting opportunity," she said. "It's very exciting that we're at the vaccine stage and that the community will be able to be vaccinated. I think people have been waiting for something for a very long time, especially for people who are isolated, aren't able to see their family. I look forward to when the community feels safe."
Jill Seara is the public health nurse who mixes the Pfizer BioNtech vaccine, making sure the delicate mixture is ready to go into arms.
"It's an amazing feeling to be part of this all. As the pandemic started, we knew we'd be called upon to play this vital role, to vaccinate the most vulnerable."
