Ontario to Provide Update on Vaccine Distribution Plan, Immunizations Start Tuesday

Ontario to Provide Update on Vaccine Distribution Plan, Immunizations Start Tuesday
The Canadian Press
Updated:

TORONTO—Ontario is expected to provide an update today on its plans to roll out the COVID-19 vaccine.

The province has said that it will begin immunizations with its first shipment of 6,000 doses on Tuesday.

Retired gen. Rick Hiller says University Health Network in Toronto and the Ottawa Hospital will administer the first shots to health-care workers.

An additional 90,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine expected later this month in the province are to be provided to 13 hospitals across Ontario.

Hillier says the province also expects to receive between 30,000 and 85,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine by the new year, pending its approval by Health Canada.

The province is also expected to announce additional restrictions for regions in the province as case counts rise.

In Windsor-Essex, currently under the strictest measures short of a lockdown, a group of church leaders have announced they will suspend in-person services for the time being.

Current restrictions in the region allow religious services to fill 30 percent room capacity with physical distancing.

But the group says in an open letter that the move to online worship is for the greater good of the community.

On Thursday, public health officials ordered area schools in the Windsor region to move classes online starting Monday.