MPP for Parry Sound-Muskoka Norm Miller says the next few months will decide whether the COVID-19 vaccination plan done by the province was well thought out.
So far though, Miller thinks provincial officials have done “reasonably well” rolling out the vaccine. “The next couple of months are going to be the toughest for everybody,” he tells the MyMuskokaNow.com newsroom “For small businesses trying to survive and people who are just tired of being in lockdown.”
Miller says he recently spoke with the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit’s Medical Officer of Health Dr. Charles Gardner who told him that long-term care and healthcare workers will be vaccinated by the end of January. “I believe they’ve vaccinated over 3,000 in Simcoe Muskoka,” he says. The Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre in Barrie is the only place for people in Simcoe Muskoka to get vaccinated as of now.
During his weekly briefing, Gardner said 599 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were administered on Tuesday, bringing the total number of inoculations up to 3,722. The doses have mainly been given to health-care workers in hospitals and seniors’ homes.
The Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech are the only vaccines approved right now, but others are being worked on including the Oxford–AstraZeneca shot. As more get approved by Health Canada, Miller says it will allow more people to get the shot. “I expect to see the number of people getting vaccinated going up and up and up as time goes forward,” he says.