SAH expects there will be a 'single distribution point' for COVID-19 vaccines in the north. But it won't be here

The medical term COVID-19, along with words such as ‘pandemic,’ ‘lockdown,’ ‘restrictions’ and ‘bubble’ are spoken and heard more times than we can count in a single day.

Most recently, the word ‘vaccine’ is spoken and heard all day long as we follow the news, the first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines coming from Pfizer over the weekend and given to Canadians starting Monday.

Locations for injections will be announced in the near future, and for Ontario, they will almost certainly be at some of the 21 hospitals in the province with freezers able to store the vaccines at approximately -80 Celsius.

Sault Area Hospital (SAH) isn’t one of them, but hospital officials are ready to help with coordination of vaccine distribution in our area.

“We currently do not have a freezer that reaches the required temperature,” wrote Brandy Sharp Young, SAH communications and media services manager in an email to SooToday Monday.

As for distribution of the vaccine in the Sault and Algoma region, “we are awaiting further direction from the Ministry of Health as there will be a coordinated approach to vaccine distribution provincially. We have not received confirmation, however, we expect there will be a single distribution point for the north. We will have a coordinated community effort for the distribution of the vaccine,” Sharp Young wrote.

“The Pfizer vaccine has very strict temperature storage requirements of -60 Celsius to -80 Celsius. In the coming weeks and months, we are expecting other vaccines with less strict temperature requirements to be approved by Health Canada, such as the Moderna vaccine, which can be stored at -20 Celsius, and other products which are stable at fridge temperatures,” replied Dr. Celeste Loewe, Algoma Public Health (APH) public health resident physician.

“We at APH continue to work with our community partners to plan for the local arrival of vaccines, and we will provide updates on vaccine roll-out as information becomes available to share,” Loewe wrote.

The federal government has a purchase agreement with seven vaccine makers and four of them have already submitted vaccine applications to Health Canada to be approved for use in Canada. After review by Health Canada, the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer/BioTECH was approved for use Dec 9.

It is uncertain as to when the vaccine will be available to the general population of the Sault and area (given the region’s low COVID numbers) after prioritized groups receive the vaccine.

“The initial round of vaccine supply will be very limited and the provincial government has announced that early doses will be prioritized to groups such as health care workers and residents, staff, and essential caregivers of long term care homes and retirement homes. As Ret. Gen. Rick Hillier (lead of Ontario’s Vaccine Distribution Task Force) cautioned, it will take time before more vaccines become available to the general population,” wrote Dr. Loewe of APH. 

Health Minister Christine Elliott has said Pfizer will ship the vaccine straight to hospitals the government picks in the areas of the greatest need, such as the GTA's COVID-19 transmission hot spots.