Newly-approved Moderna vaccine arrives at Trillium Health Partners in Mississauga

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Published December 31, 2020 at 9:49 pm

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Less than 10 days after administering the very first Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in Peel, Trillium Health Partners, which operates Credit Valley Hospital and the Mississauga Hospital, received doses of the newly-approved Moderna vaccine in Mississauga. 

According to a Dec. 30 tweet, Premier Doug Ford, Mayor Bonnie Crombie and Peel Medical Officer of Health Dr. Lawrence Loh appeared at THP to mark the occasion. 

“On December 21, THP administered the first COVID-19 vaccine in Peel. This week, we received the first shipment of the Moderna vaccine for Peel Public Health to administer & [Ford] and [Crombie] visited to tour our vaccination operations to see the work in progress,” THP wrote on Twitter. 

The first person to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at THP was Bella Rego, a registered nurse at Camilla Care Community, a Mississauga long-term care home that was hard-hit by COVID-19 during the first wave.

“I am honoured to be the first of many in our community to receive this vaccine,” said Rego in a Dec. 21 statement. 

“This milestone moment marks a welcome and positive turning point for long-term care and I am proud to have rolled up my sleeve not only for my health, but also for our residents, family and friends.”

The province recently announced that some 50,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine are arriving in Ontario.

Retired Gen. Rick Hillier, who is leading the province’s COVID-19 vaccination program, has said the drug will be distributed to long-term care and retirement homes, with immunizations slated to start there within days of the delivery.

Hillier said Tuesday that more than half of Ontarians — about 8.5 million — should receive the vaccine by the end of July.

The vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech is already being administered to health-care workers, but its storage requirements limit where that can be done.

On Dec. 31, Ontario pushed well beyond the 3,000 mark for new COVID-19 cases, recording the largest daily increase of the virus since the beginning of the pandemic.

Today’s numbers also show that 56 people have died in the province in the past 24-hours.

Along with the new cases, reports also indicate the number of hospitalizations for the virus is also climbing with 352 patients currently being treated in intensive care units.

These numbers are also hitting the modelling projections outlined by the provincial government early this month, but are doing so at a rate slightly sooner than expected.

Health Minister Christine Elliott said 888 new cases were recorded in Toronto, 431 in Peel, and 418 in York Region.

With files from Steve Pecar and Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press

Cover photo courtesy of THP

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