Premier Doug Ford is set to provide an update on the province’s COVID-19 vaccination plan Tuesday afternoon.
The press conference comes after it was announced on Monday that a pilot COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre will have to pause vaccinations on Friday because of a shortage of vaccine supply in the province.
“We were all disappointed to learn that the delivery of Pfizer vaccine to Canada is expected to be delayed as a result of manufacturing delays in Europe. As a result, we have now been advised by the province that we will only be able to operate this proof of concept clinic for an initial five days due to the lack of availability of COVID-19 vaccine,” Toronto Fire Chief Matthew Pegg said at the city’s media briefing on Monday.
The proof-of-concept clinic opened on Monday and is supposed to serve as a guideline for how shots should be administered in non-medical settings starting this spring.
Pegg said anyone with an appointment at the clinic from Jan. 23 onwards should expect that their appointment will be cancelled
The site had been expected to run for at least six weeks with an initial target of 250 doses per day.
The clinic will resume vaccinations once the province gives it the green light.
All Canadian provinces are anticipating a month of reduced Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine shipments after the company told clients, including Canada and the European Union, it was retooling several plants to increase production, leading to production shortfalls.
Since mid-December, COVID-19 vaccines have only been administered at long-term care homes and at 19 hospital sites across Ontario.
As of Sunday at 8 p.m., the province had administered more than 209,700 doses of both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.
A total of 21,752 people have been fully vaccinated so far as two doses of the vaccine are required for full immunization.
Ford, along with Minister of Health Christine Elliott, Minister of Long-Term Care Merrilee Fullerton, Solicitor General Sylvia Jones, and chair of the province’s COVID-19 vaccine task force retired General Rick Hillier, will speak today at 1 p.m.
