COVID-19: Canada Responds
Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Province’s COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution
In a news conference at Queen’s Park, Ontario Premier Doug Ford provides an update on the province's COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan. He is joined by provincial Health Minister Christine Elliott, Ontario Solicitor General Sylvia Jones and retired General Rick Hillier, chair of Ontario's COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Task Force. The province unveiled the members of the new task force on December 4, and the premier attended the inaugural meeting later that day. The update comes as Ontario sets a single-day record of 1,925 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the province. They provide details on the key populations that will receive the vaccine first, according to the task force’s recommendations. Priority will be given to residents and staff of long-term care homes and retirement homes, health-care workers, adults in certain Indigenous communities, and adults recipients of chronic home health care. Regarding the small amount of doses that will be available in December in Canada, they will be dedicated to residents and staffs in long-term care homes located in the hardest-hit regions. Ontario expects to receive 85,000 doses out of the 249,000 from this early shipment. (December 7, 2020) (no interpretation)
