Waterloo Region announced that there will be a children’s vaccination clinic in Cambridge’s Pinebush Clinic that could administer up to 6,000 doses in one weekend. The date will be confirmed once the region hears about Health Canada’s final approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for kids between 5 and 11.
According to Health Canada’s chief medical adviser, the country’s review of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine should be completed within one to two weeks.
As of last Monday, long-term care workers throughout the province of Ontario and Waterloo Region need to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination to work.
Unless they have a valid medical exemption, those staff who do not provide proof of at least one dose won’t be allowed to enter homes for work.
The spread of the COVID-19 delta variant has increased in the community and, according to Waterloo region’s medical officer of health, Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, residents need to assume they could come into contact with the virus “at any time”.
Wang noted during a media briefing last Friday that many of the new cases are among unvaccinated individuals, Because of this, Wang expects to see the number of hospitalizations and admissions to the intensive care unit rise.
As of last Friday, there were 13 active outbreaks in regional schools and more outbreaks among institutions and businesses, including home childcare, a retail store and 2 cases at Wilfrid Laurier University.
As of Nov. 10, Waterloo health officials have confirmed 20,484 total cases of COVID-19, and approximately 223 cases are considered active. There have been 303 COVID-related deaths in the region.
Kaitlyn Severin
Student Journalist of the Year - JHM award winner, Kaitlyn has worked previously as The Cord’s senior news editor. She’s also published articles for VICE and Shameless.