Scugog seeks more vaccines for North Durham sites

by The Standard | Podcast April 8, 2021 https://thestandardnewspaper.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/More-Vaccine-4-ND-Apr-8th-2021.wav

DAN CEARNS, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, for The Standard

SCUGOG: The Township of Scugog is advocating for Durham Region to receive more doses of the COVID-19 vaccines and expand the province’s vaccine roll-out in pharmacies to North Durham.

“The Mayors of Scugog, Uxbridge and Brock were busy over the weekend. We expressed our concerns about the lack of vaccine,” Mayor Bobbie Drew announced, at a meeting on Monday, March 29th.

Scugog’s Mayor then read an email she recently sent to Durham MPP Lindsey Park.

“The Mayors of Scugog, Uxbridge and Brock have an urgent request for vaccine support. While many communities in Ontario are vaccinating residents 60 [years of age] and older, we, in North Durham, are just opening this week, for the first time, for 75 [years of age] and older, due to [a] vaccine shortage. The rest of Durham is also vaccinating [people 75 years of age and older].”

But, Mayor Drew pointed out this email was sent before the Region transitioned to allowing people 70 years of age and older to get their vaccine.

“The vaccine shortage in Durham has caused an inequitable situation in the province, and this has affected us particularly in the northern areas. I understand other areas in the province have appointments available, while our appointments for this week were fully booked in minutes. To rectify this situation, we urgently request the province to open up availability for pharmacies in Durham to provide AstraZeneca vaccines [to residents] and to direct more Moderna vaccines to Durham than is currently estimated to arrive on April 5th,” Mayor Drew concluded.

However, on Tuesday, March 30th, Premier Doug Ford directed blame for the vaccine supply delay on the federal government. “Our ability to get needles into arms grows by the day, but the supply of vaccines isn’t keeping up with our capacity to deliver them. Not even close. We still don’t have the steady and reliable supply of vaccines we need from the federal government,” Ontario’s Premier said.