THUNDER BAY — Thunder Bay has received a shipment of COVID-19 vaccine very early in the two-week window announced by the provincial government.
The Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre has announced that on Tuesday morning, a dose of the Pfizer vaccine will be administered for the first time to a resident of Northwestern Ontario.
Hospital officials call it a "historic milestone and turning point" in the pandemic.
Media representatives are being invited to cover the event.
After pilot projects in Toronto and Ottawa, the government said last Friday that the TBRHSC and 16 other sites around Ontario would receive shipments of the vaccine within a period of two weeks.
Thunder Bay was the only Northern Ontario city on the list.
The government is first inoculating health care workers and essential caregivers who work in hospitals, long-term care homes, retirement homes and other congregate settings for seniors.
The TBRHSC has been designated the distribution centre for all of Northwestern Ontario.
Officials have not disclosed as yet how many doses the hospital will initially receive.