Ottawa, Toronto health workers first in Ontario to receive COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 15: Ford

Health-care workers in Ottawa and Toronto will be the first to receive doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, Premier Doug Ford said in a brief statement Thursday.

The first doses of Pfizer’s vaccine, approved Wednesday by Health Canada, will arrive on Tuesday, Dec. 15 and will be administered at the University Health Network in Toronto and the Ottawa Hospital, according to the statement.

“Ottawa has been selected in part to test and validate provincial distribution networks, as well as in recognition of the challenges the region has faced with certain long-term care home outbreaks,” the statement read.

Additional details on the vaccine roll-out will be released Friday, according to the premier’s office.

Anthony Di Monte, the head of Ottawa’s coronavirus vaccine distribution task force, said Wednesday evening that the city will be ready to roll out its distribution plans next week.

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