First round of COVID-19 vaccinations begins in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph

Sarah Ricci of Shelburne long-term care home is the first person to receive the Pfizer-BioNTechCOVID-19 vaccine in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph.

"I feel great. Happy to be here," she said after receiving the first dose of the vaccine on Wednesday in Guelph.

Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health received more than 900 doses of the vaccine on Tuesday and vaccinated five people from the Shelburnehome on Wednesday.

"We are pretty excited. We're ready to go and get this done so we can lead the way for everybody else," said Ricci.

Public health plans to vaccinate 250 people on Thursday, ramping up vaccination numbers throughout the week.

The first round of vaccinations are being administered at a health care facility at 160 Chancellors Way.

Dr. Nicola Mercer, medical officer of health, saidwhile vaccination day is a reason to celebrate, rising provincial numbers continue to raise concerns.

"Today represents hope. I think it also represents the sign that we have to be patient. We have much to look forward to but our numbers are really high all across the province we are seeing the effects currently of people who didn't quite follow the public health rules over Christmas."

The region has a total of 438 active COVID-19 cases with 70 new infections reported Wednesday.

Public health is set to receive about 3,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine next week. Officials said the Moderna vaccine is more mobile and therefore will be distributed to long-term care facilities.