It looks like the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines in Chatham-Kent is on hold for now.
A Ministry of Health spokesperson told Blackburn News on Thursday afternoon the province is waiting on more details of Ontario's allocation of the Pfizer vaccine and expects to get more information shortly about provincial quantities and the impact the shipment delay will have on the province’s rollout of vaccines.
In a statement, the ministry said the Pfizer reduction in shipments means Canada will not see any deliveries for the week of January 25 and will have subsequent reductions for the first two weeks in February.
Pfizer is retooling its vaccine plant in Belgium to produce more doses in the future. The ministry said it will be ready to administer doses and it plans to expand the number of locations administering them as soon as it receives them from the federal government.
"We continue to work closely with hospitals and public health units to ensure that those individuals who need their second dose of the vaccine continues to receive it to ensure the strongest possible protection against the virus," read the statement. "Ontario will have baseline capacity to vaccinate nearly 40,000 people a day in the coming weeks, and we have the ability to triple or quadruple this capacity with notice."
MPP for Chatham-Kent Leamington Rick Nicholls is disappointed with the vaccine delay by Pfizer and said he can't confirm when the vaccine will arrive in the area. His comments come after Sarnia-Lambton MPP Bob Bailey told Blackburn News in Sarnia, that the vaccine will start arriving in Chatham-Kent January 25.
Nicholls said we'll have to wait and see what happens, but was hoping the vaccines would arrive in Chatham-Kent either this week or next.
"Our area should be moved up the list to receive the vaccines because our counts in the Chatham-Kent area are higher than other areas," he explained.
CK's Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Colby has been saying for weeks that he believes the vaccine would arriving by the end of January. He added on Thursday that all bets are off because of the plant retooling.
A statement from the Office of Premier Doug Ford said the federal government is working to secure more supply and when they are able to deliver more vaccines, Ontario will be ready to administer them.