Moderna vaccine coming to 14 Windsor-Essex pharmacies

The COVID-19 vaccine rollout at pharmacies in Windsor-Essex has been expanded once again.

The region is one of several participating in a provincial pilot that will see 14 local pharmacies in hot-spot postal codes receive a supply of the COVID-19 vaccine made by Moderna.

Anyone who is 18 and older who lives in those seven hotspots — postal codes beginning with N8X, N8Y, N9A, N9B, N9C, N8H, N9Y — will be eligible. Previously, a number of pharmacies were providing shots of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine to residents 40 and older.

Theresa Marentette, CEO of the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, said she anticipates that each of the 14 sites will be getting 100 doses a week for three weeks.

The start time hasn't been confirmed yet, but Marentette said the rollout will be starting shortly, and the list of participating pharmacies would be made available publicly.

Meanwhile, the health unit reported 40 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday. Overall, 367 cases are active, about 44 per cent of which involve COVID-19 variants of concern.

Vaccines provide protection, even after just one dose: data

Dr. Wajid Ahmed, the region's medical officer of health, delivered a presentation on vaccine effectiveness across the province.

Out of a data set of nearly 3.5 million people who received vaccines, just 0.06 per cent contracted COVID-19 some time after the two-week period necessary for the dose to become effective.

For those who received the second shot, a booster which prolongs the immunity provided, the rate went down to 0.01 per cent.

No one who is fully vaccinated has died of COVID-19 in Ontario, but 49 people who were partially vaccinated and contracted COVID-19 have died, the data showed.

Ahmed hopes the data provides confidence in the effectiveness of the vaccines, as well as the four-month maximum period allowed between doses. The interval is sanctioned by Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization, but is significantly longer than the manufacturers' recommendations of 21 or 28 days, depending on the product.

"I haven't seen lots of concerns, but I have seen people reaching out to me and some of my colleagues questioning the extended interval piece," he said.

To date, 179,702 vaccine doses have been administered to Windsor-Essex residents, while 165,627 people have received one or more doses. 

Of the new cases announced Thursday, 13 are close contacts of confirmed cases, 14 were community acquired, one was related to U.S. travel and 12 are under investigation.

Nine outbreaks are ongoing — nearly all taking place in employment settings.

There are seven workplace outbreaks, including: 

• One in Leamington's agriculture sector. 
• One in Tecumseh's construction sector.
• One in Lakeshore's food and beverage sector. 
• One in Windsor's food and beverage sector. 
• Two in Windsor's health-care and social assistance sector. 
• One in a retail setting in Windsor.

There are also outbreaks active at Southwest Detention Centre and Extendicare Southwood Lakes.

COVID-19 in Chatham-Kent, Sarnia-Lambton

Lambton Public Health announced nine new COVID-19 cases Thursday. There are 84 COVID-19 active cases overall in Sarnia-Lambton. Four outbreaks are ongoing.

Chatham-Kent has 30 active COVID-19 cases. The municipality's public health unit reported one new case on Thursday. One outbreak, at a workplace, is active.