LONDON, ONT. -- The timeline for adults to receive a COVID-19 vaccination is offering hope, even as the province braces for a third wave of the pandemic.
Middlesex-London Medical Officer of Health Dr. Chris Mackie believes greater vaccine availability will see every consenting adult in his public health region receive a shot by the end of June.
That’s on pace with Waterloo Region which made a similar commitment this week.
“We do hope to have doses into arms by the end of June as well. That is all dependent on supply,” explained Dr. Mackie during a media briefing.
With hundreds of thousands of people in London and Middlesex County still waiting for a first dose, many anticipate a longer wait until they roll up their sleeve.
“Sometime late summer, or early fall, so I am going to say September-ish,” speculates Sean Crockett.
Noelle Willes is only slightly more optimistic, “I’m 50-years-old, so I am expecting sometime in the summer. It could be late summer unfortunately.”
But Dr. Mackie says if vaccine delivery targets are met, the region will create capacity at mass vaccination centres to meet provincial targets over the coming weeks.
“We are reaching 60,000 vaccines administered to date in the region sometime today (Thursday),” he adds. “We’re vaccinating between 1,500 and 2,000 people per day.”
After initially prioritizing vaccine in regions with higher rates of transmission, the Province is now distributing on a per capita basis.
Mackie expects all public health regions will be moving forward with vaccination at similar rates.
Emphasizing the close relationship between supply and vaccination rate, he says the 1,500 to 2,000 shots per day this week could have been even higher.
“We had to push a lot of the vaccine forward over the last week or two, to make sure we were getting as much of (it) in the fridge and freezer into arms as quickly as possible. So we have a little bit of a lull right now, that will pick up next week as more supplies become available.”
