The wait for a COVID-19 vaccine has shortened by two or three months for the general public, according to York Region’s medical officer of health.
By May or June the vaccine should be available to anyone who wants it, Dr. Karim Kurji told regional council Thursday, Jan. 28.
Initial timelines for the vaccine rollout anticipated August as the date by which the vaccine would be available to residents not in phase one and two priority groups, which include frontline health-care workers and residents of long-term care and retirement homes.
“I would think that we will have a lot of vaccine maybe by early April … if not late March … and we will be moving pretty rapidly through the next prioritization groups,” Kurji said.
“So I expect the public will probably have access to the vaccine earlier than anticipated, maybe by May or June. So the hope is by the summer, by July, we should have vaccinated the vast majority of people in York Region.”
Kurji said discussions are underway that could see the province’s vaccine rollout change to age prioritization, as opposed to the current emphasis on priority groups.
“I don’t think that the challenge is the speed, I think the challenge is the vaccine supply,” he added.
Regional Councillor Tom Vegh questioned when seniors who live in their homes would be eligible to receive the vaccine, adding many seniors “are having a lot of anxiety” about this.
“We have a lot of elderly living in our community who are not in congregate homes because we made a real effort to help keep people in their homes with the support of family and the support of workers coming in to assist,” he said.
“It seems to be almost that you (have) put yourself at a huge disadvantage if you’ve made the efforts -- and your families made the efforts -- to keep you at home and out of institutional and congregate care settings.”
While the process for informing those residents has yet to be determined, Kurji said it’s likely primary care physicians will play a key role in identifying and alerting patients eligible to receive the vaccine.
York Region’s vaccine task force includes primary care physicians who have access to information about seniors receiving home care, he added.
“We will have to rely on the physician community in a big way in terms of getting access to people who would be qualified to receive the vaccine.”
Public health will ensure seniors who are not mobile receive the doses in their homes, he added.
“It’s not very clear at this point, as soon as that is clarified will be sending out appropriate messages,” Kurji said.
