Applause greets first local vaccine recipient

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An infection control nurse from Hardy Terrace Long-term Care Home in Mount Pleasant received the first local dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday.

Linda Dunham was part of a group of 54 front-line health-care workers vaccinated at the Brantford General Hospital, as part of a trial immunization clinic to ensure staff are prepared for mobile clinics that will begin visiting Brantford and Brant County long-term care homes on Thursday.

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“I feel relieved,” said Dunham, who attended the clinic with 13 other staff from Hardy Terrace.

There was applause after Dunham was injected with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Dunham, who has worked at Hardy Terrace since 2003, said it’s been a difficult year for most health-care workers. She said she has struggled to protect her own mother, who is in her 80s and lives at home, and mother-in-law, who is in her 90s and lives at Hardy Terrace.

“We get tested every week and, on Thursdays, the first thing I do is check my results.”

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Dunham said she’s grateful the Brant County Health Unit is going directly to nursing homes to vaccinate residents and staff.

“If we all do our part, maybe we can beat this pandemic.”

Wednesday’s clinic also saw vaccines administered to local paramedics and front-line workers at Brierwood Gardens long-term care home in Brantford, the Brant Community Healthcare System and the health unit. In each case, only those who will be directly involved in the administration of the vaccine were immunized, said Ryan Spiteri, health unit spokesperson.

On Thursday, the rollout of the vaccine will target residents and staff at long-term care homes as a top priority as directed by the Ontario government’s vaccine distribution implementation plan. Those who are in the priority populations identified by the province will be contacted by their employer or through the health unit when the vaccine is being offered to them.

The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were approved by Health Canada in December. Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada will be monitoring the national vaccine rollout for safety.

Dr. Elizabeth Urbantke, Brant’s acting medical officer of health for Brant, said the first vaccinations represent a “significant milestone” for the area but warned it will take time before the vaccine can be offered to the general public.

There are more than 840 long-term care residents in Brantford and Brant long-term care homes and hundreds more in retirement homes. They are supported by hundreds of nurses, personal support workers, other staff and essential caregivers.

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While Ontario has set a target of vaccinating everyone in the top priority category by Feb. 15, Urbantke said she expects workers in Brantford and Brant to finish that category well before that date.

Urbantke said she expects vaccination clinics will open for the general population locally sometime in March or April but the timing will depend on the vaccine supply.

On Wednesday, the Ford government announced plans to post a hub vaccination clinic at BGH as part of Phase 2 of the vaccine rollout.

The BGH will be one of three additional sites, with St. Catharines and Kingston, that will host clinics and get provincial help in vaccinating health-care workers, residents, staff and essential caregivers of long-term care and high-risk retirement homes.

More sites will be added later.

Phase 2, according to the province, will start with adults aged 80 and older, those living or working in high-risk congregate settings, frontline essential workers like those in education and food processing, and those with high-risk chronic conditions and their caregivers.

The plan is for Phase 2 to be done by the end of July and Phase 3 – the general population – to continue until vaccinations are complete.

Health Minister Christine Elliott said in a news release that the province will work with the supply of vaccines it has until “every person who wants to be vaccinated will receive it.”

The province said that, once vaccine supply increases, more health-care providers will be enlisted to administer vaccines, potentially including nurses, interns, pharmacists, and pharmacy students and technicians.

SGamble@postmedia.com

@EXPSGamble