Image

UPDATED: Lambton long term residents start getting COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday

January 25, 2021

Only long term care residents to get vaccine, not workers or caregivers

Lambton Public Health says 500 doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines have arrived in the county and long term care residents will start getting them Tuesday.

Provincial officials laid out a new plan for vaccinating seniors today as the drug supply dwindles.

Pfizer has stopped some shipments of its vaccine to Canada as it retools its plant in Europe to increase production. Ontario won’t receive any doses of the Pfizer vaccine this week.

Even before Pfizer announced it would cutback deliveries to Canada, Lambton politicians voiced concern this community continues to wait for its first doses of the vaccine while other communities, with fewer cases per 100,000 of people are completing their vaccination in long term care. The rollout of vaccines was developed based on COVID-19 case counts in Ontario in early December. The number of cases exploded in Lambton in mid-December, making the community a COVID hot spot rivaling Windsor and Metro Toronto.

Today, public health officials in Toronto said the 14 public health units – including Lambton – who have not received any vaccine will be getting the Moderna vaccine instead. Public Health issued a news release Monday afternoon saying the vaccines had arrived and would be going into arms Tuesday.

It’s not immediately clear how many long term care residents there are in Lambton County and if they all can be vaccinated right away.

The province says to deal with the short supply, only long term care residents will now get the vaccine by the first week of February. Until now, their caregivers and personal support workers in long term care were also receiving the vaccine.

Sarnia Lambton MPP Bob Bailey reiterates just the estimated 1,000 people in long term care in Lambton will receive the first round of vaccines “not retirement homes and not seniors living on their own.”

Bailey says long term care residents are the most vulnerable because they are “more or less captive” and unable to control who enters their home.

He adds the province is changing the guidelines to the vaccine “to try to stretch it as far as they can.”

Share This

Image
Front Page

Crocheting senior of the year

July 14, 2025

Heather Wright/The Independent When she was in her 30s, a neighbour offered to teach Ruth Anne Mater to crochet. It looked fun, so she picked up a hook. It seems to many as though her hands have not been idle since. Monday, Mater was honoured as Dawn-Euphemia’s Senior of the Year. Mayor Al Broad says Mater “has been a quiet

Read More

Image
Front Page

Wyoming’s Jackson taken by Yankees in MLB Draft

July 14, 2025

The Independent Core Jackson may be headed to the Big Apple. The Wyoming native was selected in the fifth round of the MLB Draft by the New York Yankees on Monday afternoon. Jackson has played college baseball at the University of Utah for the past two years. He slashed .364/.445/.641 with 12 home runs, 44 RBI, and 20 stolen bases

Read More

Image
Front Page

Information and Privacy Commissioner orders Petrolia to release 2021 letter from mayor banning town councillor

July 14, 2025

Heather Wright/The Independent Nearly four years, after Petrolia Mayor Brad Loosley banned a councillor from attending in camera meetings, the town has been forced to release the letter spelling out his reasons. In June 2022, while investigating a Code of Conduct complain against the mayor for the release of confidential information to The Independent, the investigator found Loosley had banned

Read More

Image
Front Page

Flyers sign veterans, Flags go with youth

July 13, 2025

Barry Wright/The Independent The Petrolia Flyers have reached into east Lambton for a pair of players for the coming season. Alvinston’s Joey Hayter and Ty Moffatt of Watford are both joining the PJHL team. Hayter, 19, has played the past two seasons with the Blenheim Blades including scoring 15 goals and adding 31 assists in 51 regular season and playoff

Read More