TORONTO: Personal Support Worker Anita Quidangen, made history as the first person in Ontario to receive the COVID-19 19 Pfizer vaccine.
Three personal support workers and two nurses were also among the first Ontarians to receive the vaccine on Monday, a day ahead of schedule.
Premier Doug Ford said: “We have started the biggest immunization program in a century. Today’s vaccinations are the beginning of the long journey to return life back to normal. Today is a historic day for Ontario and for Canada. This morning, I had the opportunity to talk to Anita Quidangen, the first person in Canada to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
“It was amazing to watch Anita who has worked tirelessly to care for some of our most vulnerable since her first days as a PSW in 1988. Thank you Anita for rolling up your sleeves to protect our province.
“Make no mistake there is a long road ahead of us, but this represents hope and proof that this pandemic will come to an end.
While light at the end of the tunnel grows brighter every day, we must continue to follow public health advice. Quidangen works at the Toronto nursing home Rekai Centre and got her vaccine at the University Health Network in Toronto after the first batch of the two-dose Pfizer vaccines arrived in Hamilton on Sunday.
The other four who were first in line were PSWs Derek Thompson and Cecile Lasco, as well as nurses Colette University Health Network President Dr Kevin Smith said it’s been a long road to get here.
“Less than a year ago, no one believed it would be possible to get this vaccine out,” he said.
“Here we are today, breaking the back of this horrible virus.” “Make no mistake, there’s a long road ahead of us, but what this represents is hope and proof that this pandemic will come to an end,” Ford said. “God bless Anita and the other health care heroes and God bless the people of Ontario.”
Phase One of the Ontario campaign will include the vaccination of over 2,500 health care
workers with the Health Canada approved Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The two locations were selected for the pilot because this will test the travel logistics in two different regions of the province.
In addition, these sites already have the equipment necessary to safely store the Pfizer vaccine at -70 degrees and the trained staff to handle the vaccine.
Since this vaccine cannot be transferred beyond the initial delivery location at this time, vaccinations will be administered to health care workers in high-risk areas such as long-term care and critical care units in the Toronto and Ottawa regions.
When an increased stockpile of vaccines becomes available to Ontario, the province will shift to Phase Two of its vaccination implementation plan, which is expected to begin later in the winter of 2021.
During Phase Two, vaccinations will be administered to health care workers, as well as to residents in long-term care homes and retirement homes, to home care patients with chronic conditions and to additional First Nation communities and urban Indigenous populations, including Métis and Inuit adults.