The City’s Municipal Emergency Control Group met today with community partners as part of its ongoing management of the COVID-19 situation. The group received an update on vaccine rollout in the region, as well as the efforts being made to secure more vaccine doses.

Through his various outreach to other orders of government, Mayor Mauro confirmed that the region will be seeing additional doses of vaccines moving forward.

“I was pleased to confirm in a meeting last week with the Minister of Health’s Chief of Staff that the Thunder Bay region is going to be receiving extra doses of the Moderna vaccine this week, and that we will continue to be a priority when it comes to receiving extra doses of vaccine,” he said. “I will continue to advocate for even more attention until our situation is under control.”

He added that while Thunder Bay isn’t included on the Province’s list of Hot Spots, he was told that because of our number of active cases and transmission rates, we would be getting the same consideration as those areas on the list.

Dr. Janet DeMille, Medical Officer of Health, said local vaccination clinics are running very well and with vaccine supply expected to increase over the coming months, everybody who wants the COVID-19 vaccine will be able to receive one.

“This is really great news and a positive step in the right direction,” she said. “We have the capacity to administer over 5,000 doses of vaccine per week. We continue with the phase 1 priorities of the Provincial vaccination plan and are also preparing for the Phase 2 priorities to be eligible starting in early April.”
“I’m hopeful we will start seeing more stability in terms of case numbers going down, but everyone should still assume that wherever we go, wherever we are, COVID is there.”

Dr. DeMille’s five recommendations for people in the district to abide by if they’re to get out of lockdown: limit interactions with those outside your household, follow all public health measures, screen yourself daily for symptoms, follow the public health measure if you’ve been diagnosed with COVID-19 and for workplaces to review their own safety measures.

Those in attendance represented the City of Thunder Bay, Thunder Bay Police Service, Thunder Bay Fire Rescue, Superior North EMS, St. Joseph’s Care Group, tbaytel, Thunder Bay Airport, Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, Thunder Bay District Health Unit, District of Thunder Bay Social Services Administration Board, Conseil scolaire de district catholique des Aurores boréales, Lakehead Public Schools, and the Catholic District School Board, Fort William First Nation, and the Solicitor General’s Office of Ontario.

For more information:

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Contact: Stacey Levanen, Supervisor-Corporate Communications/Public Information Officer, 625-3650