Windsor Regional Hospital to start delivering 2nd Pfizer shots again this week, after delays

Windsor Regional Hospital will start delivering roughly 3,000second doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Monday to people in Windsor-Essex still waiting for their shots as part of phase one of the roll-out plan.

But that rollout still leaves the hospitalabout 2,500 doses short of what it needs to finish inoculatingthe 5,500 people in the city who received the first shot and are awaiting the second.

The second dose rollouthas been on hold sincelate Januarywhen WRHwas told to stop administering all shots due to Pfizer shipment delays.

The hospital has been holding onto the shots despitethe province announcing at that time that all available vaccines shots would be diverted to people in long-term care and retirement homes.

The hospital says it was told by the province to hold onto its supply.

"We were ordered by the province, like all hospitals, to hold back any vaccine we had intended for second doses ... in case urgently needed. We didn't have 'excess' vaccine supply," aspokesperson told CBCin an email.

On Jan.25, the province announced it would be adjusting its vaccination plan as a result of supply issues, which meant that instead of second doses being administered within 21 days of the first, it could take up to 42 days for many.

At the time, Premier Doug Ford said that the province is "ensuring all available supplies are re-directed to those who need them most: our residents in long-term care and retirement homes."

While the province suggested a re-direction of supplies with that statement, at the time, when the hospital wasaskedif it would be handing over doses to the local health unit for delivery ofshots to long-term care and retirement home residents, a hospital spokesperson said the hospital had nothing to hand over.

The hospital has since clarified that it meantthat those doses could not be handed over because they were needed for second doses. The hospital's CEO David Musyj also explained that the doses were held onto in case they needed to be diverted to other parts of the province with not enough shots to administer second doses within a 42-day time frame.

Needing a shipment

However, Musyj said, now the province has given the hospital the green light to start things back up again, with the ability to deliversecond shots within a 35-day window, but there's anxiety over the need for more shipments soon.

"We need a shipment to arrive on Feb.15or we're gonna be late with even day 35," Musyj said.

"And we're not alone with that, that's the whole province."

The federal government suggests the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine can be delayed up to 42 days at the most. Other parts of the country though have considered an even looser approach. Quebec for example is stretching the dosing time frame to a maximum of 90 days.

Windsor Regional Hospital said that about 7,713 people have received at least one of their two Pfizer shots. About 2,144 have already received their second doses and 5,569 people are still waiting.

These are individuals prioritized under phase one of the province's vaccination rollout plan, including long-term care and retirement home employees, essential caregivers, hospital staff, congregate care staff, EMS staff and Indigenous peoples.

Anna Miller, a spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Health, said the vaccine shortages meant it decided to "protect access" to second doses, and wanted to maintain the maximum interval between first and second shots of 21-27 days.

She said the vaccinesupply delays had meant pushing back to Feb. 10 the goal of getting first doses to all residents of long-term care.

Some homereceived second doses

Meanwhile, the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) is in the middle of bringing second doses of Moderna to long-term care and retirement homes, though hundreds are still waiting for their first shots in those settings.

More than 5,000 doses have already gone to long-term care and retirement homes through the health unit's mobile teams, but some were ineligible for their first shot during the health unit's first visit to their home because they may have had symptoms or been sick with COVID-19 at the time.

The health unit says 80-85 per cent of long-term care and retirement home residents have been vaccinated.

Though many are still waiting. The health unit said between 300-400 residents (7 per centof all), about 1,000 staff (23per cent of all)and approximately 700 essential care givers (15 per cent of all) in long-term care and retirement homes who want the vaccine are still waiting for their first shots.

The health unit is eager to get the vaccine to those individuals as soon as possible, depending on when more Moderna shots arrive.

WECHU started administering second doses to homes on Jan.29, and as of Friday, 13 long-term care or retirement homes have received their second doses of the vaccine.