February 25th, 2021
COVID-19 Vaccine Update
Dear Patients,
It has been a while since we’ve provided a COVID update and we felt it was time to provide some insight into vaccinations. In short: Help (ie. vaccine supply) is on the way! As always though, the devil will be in the details…
We are well aware that the provincial government announced last week that family physicians would begin contacting patients aged 80 and above in order to schedule vaccinations. Unfortunately, it is still somewhat premature for us to begin doing so-- considering we still don’t have any further details regarding how, when, or where to schedule vaccine appointments.
At GFHC, we are certainly ready, willing, and able to vaccinate our patients as soon as the opportunity arises. However, given the handling specifications required of the currently available mRNA vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna), we anticipate that the next phase of vaccinations will be conducted in more centralized vaccination centres, rather than our office. As soon as vaccines do become available to our clinic you can count on hearing more from us.
In the interim, it is our sincere hope and expectation that vaccines will start rolling out more widely in the community extremely soon. As you all know, the first vaccines have been given to higher-risk people and healthcare workers. As more supply continues to become available, more members of our community will be able to receive their shots. Vaccine availability may vary from region to region (ie. Toronto vs York Region vs Peel Region, etc), so we would encourage all of our patients to pay close attention to their local announcements as the rollout continues. Regardless of time and place, we look forward to when ALL of our patients will have access to the vaccine-- hopefully sooner rather than later!
We are well aware as well that many of our patients still have some questions about the COVID vaccines themselves. We have attempted to collect some reputable sources(see link below) for your reference, including some Frequently Asked Questions about COVID vaccines as well as some common myths and misperceptions. We encourage you to review the resources here-- but as always, if you do have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact your Family Doctor.
Stay safe,
GFHC staff