Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) President and CEO, Anthony Dale, says hospitals in the province “are moving to implement instructions to urgently re-activate mass vaccination programs” in a desperate bid to contain the spread of the surging Omicron COVID-19 variant.
Dale tweeted Monday night that the race to contain the virus means there’s “no other choice” than to return to mass vaccination programs despite the impact on other hospital services.
Ontario hospitals are moving to implement instructions to urgently re-activate mass vaccination programs. This will have a major impact on other clinical services but there’s no other choice. As we said on Saturday this is truly a race against time. #onpoli #onpoli #VaccinesWork
— Anthony Dale (@AnthonyDaleOHA) December 14, 2021
On Saturday, Dale released a statement on behalf of the OHA, saying COVID-19 and the Omicron variant in particular “represent a major threat to the hospital system.”
“In this race against time, our strongest defence is vaccination.”
Our @OntHospitalAssn statement from today about Omicron, the risk it poses to Ontario’s hospitals & the planning underway in anticipation of a major surge. We are in a race against time and must do everything possible to get each age group fully vaccinated. #onhealth #onpoli pic.twitter.com/YGEnRftLIN
— Anthony Dale (@AnthonyDaleOHA) December 12, 2021
Dr. Peter Juni, Director of the Ontario Science Advisory Table, also believes mass vaccination centres should reopen, but he told CityNews that vaccinations alone won’t be enough.
“This (Omicron) moves so fast right now … there’s no way that we can vaccinate enough people with a third dose that this will control the current wave. It’s public health measures that can control the current wave.”
Juni says those measures should include putting capacity limits back in high-risk settings.
“I think this is something that needs to happen, yes indeed,” he said Monday.
“We need to brace for impact now.”
Meanwhile, Ontarians aged 50 and over were able to start booking their booster doses on Monday morning, but some reported a number of problems with the province’s online booking system.
All adults aged 18 and over will be eligible to book their boosters starting on January 4, 2022.
With files from Michael Talbot
