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TORONTO/MONTREAL (Reuters) - Canada kicked off its inoculation campaign against COVID-19 on Monday by injecting frontline healthcare workers and elderly nursing home residents, becoming just the third nation in the world to administer the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
The first dose broadcast on live TV went to Anita Quidangen. The personal support worker at the Rekai Centre, a non-profit nursing home for the elderly in Toronto, Canada’s largest city, said she was “excited” to have been first in line.
Healthcare workers in masks and white coats applauded after she was injected.
“It’s a great relief. Clearly, it may only be the beginning of the end but we sense nevertheless that there will be an end to this pandemic,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, making clear he would not be pressing to have his shot immediately.
1st COVID-19 vaccine recipients say it s history made for Filipino-Canadians
by Erica Natividad and Theresa Redula
Posted Dec 18, 2020 3:48 pm EDT
Tamara Dus (left), director of University Health Netwok Safety Services, administers the first Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in Ontario to personal support worker Anita Quidangen at a hospital in Toronto on Monday, Dec. 14, 2020. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn)
Three of the first five people to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in Canada were Filipino-Canadian, a moment significant to the Filipino community, who for decades has played a major role in the nation’s healthcare system.
About one in every 20 caregiving professionals in Canada are Filipino and with frontline workers the first to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, it’s no surprise they played a large role in the historic inoculations.
Ontario expands COVID-19 vaccine to 17 hospitals including hardest-hit areas
by Lucas Casaletto
Last Updated Dec 18, 2020 at 2:07 pm EDT
Ontario’s government has announced new vaccination sites where health care workers and essential caregivers who work in hospitals, long-term care homes, retirement homes, and other congregate settings will be inoculated.
Over the next two weeks, the Ford government says it will gradually increase its COVID-19 vaccine rollout across 17 additional hospitals, including regions – like Toronto, Peel, and York – currently seeing the highest rates of COVID-19 infection.
Gen. Rick Hillier, the lead of Ontario’s COVID-19 taskforce, said the province is expecting to receive up to 90,000 Pfizer-BioNTech doses from the federal government before the end of the year.
December 17, 2020 · 0 Comments
Written By ALYSSA PARKHILL
LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER
The Province has broken the record, after reporting more than 2,000 new COVID-19 cases for the first time on Tuesday since it all began earlier this year.
Ontario reported 2,275 on December 15, bringing a cumulative total of 144,396 cases across the province. 123,373 cases have been resolved and there have been 3,992 deaths.
Peel Region reported 586 new cases as of December 15 for a total of 32,228 cases since the start of the pandemic. 27,385 cases have been resolved, and 4,435 remain active with 408 deaths.
Numbers continue to rise in the regions that remain in the Grey-Lockdown level including 711 new cases in Toronto, 185 in Windsor-Essex and 154 in York Region.
NOW Magazine
Year in Review: The biggest Toronto stories of 2020
A look back at the city s most important stories, plus a few inspiring cultural figures who kept our spirits up By NOW Staff
Cyclists took over Lake Shore West as part of the city’s ActiveTO program.
Toronto is nine months into the COVID-19 pandemic, the story that clearly defined 2020 and changed all our lives. The year is ending on an optimistic note, with vaccines beginning to roll out across Canada. But by most accounts the city has another nine months before most people will be immunized, meaning physical distancing, face masks and vigorous handwashing will continue to be a part of our every day routines.