People will be notified of their turn for COVID-19 shot, assures task force lead

The vaccine rollout in Waterloo region is underway, with select individuals such as health-care workers and people living in long-term care and retirement homes having received their first dose of the Pfizer-Biotech vaccine.

The region says more than 26,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been given in Waterloo region since Dec. 22, and that includes more than 12,000 people who have been fully vaccinated with two doses.

The province announced last week that adults 80 and older are now eligible for the vaccine in Phase One, but local officials say that due to limited vaccine supply, vaccination of this group is not expected to begin until early March.

The province is also working on a central booking system, but it is not yet available for people to use.

The changes to who can be vaccinated, along with anxiety about when people will be able to get the shot, means the people in charge of the region's planning are getting many questions from the public.

Waterloo Regional Police Services Deputy Chief Shirley Hilton leads the Waterloo Region Vaccine Distribution Task Force.

She joined CBC K-W's The Morning Edition with host Craig Norris to discuss the vaccine rollout plan for the region and assured people that they will be notified when it's their turn.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Craig Norris: I know you can't provide firm dates, but do you have just a general sense of when people in the region may get the shot? 

Deputy Chief Shirley Hilton: Yeah, as you know, we are still in Phase One of the provincial framework that has three phases. 

So some of our long-term care homes and retirement home residents are still receiving their vaccines. So we're still working on the Phase One piece in addition to our health care workers, who are our highest priority health-care workers, so we're getting through this group. 

As you know, the province last week had changed a little bit of their prioritization where our seniors, who are 80 years of age and older, are now moved into Phase One of our provincial framework, as well.

Right now, we've been contacting people through the long term care home or their specific organizations. 

But as we start to move into the next phase of the vaccine rollout and looking at mass vaccination clinics and other settings, we're looking at a preregistration, an appointment booking system. The task force and the region, we're in the middle of developing that as we speak — understanding that once we move into Phase Two, there is more of a population that we'll have to reach. So we're hoping that it will be through an online booking platform. 

Norris: There are people out there who don't use social media. They may not read or listen to the news every day. They're worried that they might miss their opportunity to get the shot. What are some ways that the task force is planning to get the word out there to those people to say, hey, it's your turn now? 

Hilton: We have been working with primary care doctors. We have a couple on our task force, Dr. Sharon Bal and Dr. Joe Lee, who are also part of Ontario health tables — so the Cambridge North Dumfries Health Table and the KW 4 Health Table. 

We've had some stakeholder meetings with primary care doctors and then we've also engaged with other stakeholders and community leaders in another town hall style forum last week to provide education around the vaccine itself and then also around the vaccine rollout plan. 

So we're hoping to continue to engage with our primary doctors, as well as walk-in, urgent care, and specialists. 

And then we also have, when I speak specifically of the 80 plus demographic, an older adult strategy group — with community support tables and we're looking at some of our faith-based groups that will be able to help and assist us engage [with that group].

And then our community outreach will also look to engage through Sanguen [Health Centre] and some of our shelter systems as well and use some of the infrastructure that's already in place to reach some of our population that wouldn't necessarily use social media or watch the news or read the paper.

What vaccination clinics for the public could look like

Norris: When it comes to actually administering the vaccine, how will that happen? Will it all be at clinics, at hospitals?

Hilton: Right now, as you know, the vaccine is very limited. So we're only operating through the Grand River Hospital clinic and then also through our mobile team. Those are the only two clinics that are operating right now. 

But we are looking at a five modality clinic style, which would include the two that I just mentioned and then also looking at two mass immunization clinics that's led by public health within the region. 

And then as we progress further from Phase Two to Phase Three, we will also be incorporating primary care. We're looking at probably six to eight primary care settings within the region that will assist with our rural population. So we'll have those running concurrently. [We're] also hoping to transition to pharmacy and then primary care as we now see our mass flu vaccination clinics.

So we're hoping with the modalities that I just described, that they will be running concurrently and of course, that's all based on vaccine supply and also other vaccines right now on the assumption that we're just operating with Pfizer, we're hoping that there will be Health Canada approval for further vaccines to assist the mass rollout. 

Norris: I think that is a very important caveat to put on. This is, you know, it's all about supply. 

We've seen pop-up testing centers in Kitchener neighbourhoods where there are people who are Black and racialized, [people] living on low incomes. We know the pandemic has impacted those communities particularly hard and the region even actually publishes a map of the most affected neighbourhoods. Can we expect that people in those neighbourhoods, when it comes to these vaccine clinics, they will be targeted sooner rather than later?

Hilton: So currently, our urban Indigenous community is part of Phase One and we are working to co-plan something similar to what you just described, like a pop-up type of a vaccination style clinic, which is best suited for this population. 

But we also recognize that there are a number that will still attend the mass immunization clinics and or their own primary care.

But yes, our intent is through our community engagement and outreach to those populations that might require us to bring the vaccine to them, that we'd be in a situation to do that. And we've been in conversation and consultation with some community stakeholders around that type of a modality as well. 

Norris: As we move forward and hopefully more vaccine doses arrive in the region, can ramp up vaccinations, what generally do you want people to keep in mind out there? 

Hilton: I know it's frustrating and a lot of people have anxiety around not only COVID-19, but around the vaccine itself: I've asked people to be patient and I know it's very difficult not understanding what the plan looks like and how it might impact everyone. 

We will notify people of their turn, so to speak. We will notify people broadly to make sure that people understand where they fall within the prioritization of the vaccine itself. 

As I said earlier, when we're dealing with Pizer, it is a bit fragile. It's a two dose type of a vaccine, as well. 

We are working on preregistration system so people can feel comfortable knowing that their information is out there, that they will not be missed. But more importantly, one last thing that I would like to remind everyone, to still follow public health guidelines while we move through the vaccination process and plan itself.