March 29th, 2021 –The Marathon Family Health Team (MFHT) is pleased to announce that 150 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine were efficiently, safely and successfully administered to members of our community on March 25th, 2021.
The MFHT, in collaboration with the North of Superior Healthcare Group and the Peninsula Manor, managed to offer first and second doses of the vaccine to individuals that fall within the specific priority groups listed below:
- healthcare workers,
- some adults over the age of 80 years old,
- Chronic Complex Care and Alternative Level of Care patients (second doses), and
- tenants at the Peninsula Manor (second doses).
To date, a total of 456 COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Marathon and 50 of our highest risk community members have been fully immunized. The MFHT looks forward to offering first doses of the vaccine to more of our most vulnerable in the coming weeks.
Thank you to everyone who received their vaccine and chose to take a step towards protecting themselves and others from COVID-19. To everyone else who is eagerly anticipating their vaccine, we thank you for your patience as we continue to advocate for increased vaccine deliveries to our communities. Your health and safety are our priority and we are working hard to ensure that our communities have equitable access to the COVID-19 vaccine.
Dr. Eli Orrantia, Family Physician and COVID-19 Clinical Lead at the MFHT states that “the Marathon Family Health Team is confident in being able to effectively and rapidly immunize all eligible community members if we are provided with sufficient vaccines. We strongly encourage Minister Christine Elliott and the Ontario government to recognize our need for more vaccines given our remote location, fragile local health system and our present outbreak status.”
At this time, the community of Marathon has been able to secure two more COVID-19 Immunization clinics, which will be held on April 1st and April 8th. Both clinics will allow the MFHT to offer a vaccine to all other Phase 1 priority groups, including remaining adults 80 years of age and older, urban Indigenous adults (55+), chronic home care recipients and their caregivers, as well as adults 75 to 79 years of age. With that said, we anticipate ongoing weekly vaccine deliveries and the ability to move on to offering first doses of the vaccine to Phase 2 priority groups by mid-April.
With slow vaccine rollout and increasing cases of COVID-19 in our communities and district, it’s more important than ever to take all possible measures to stop the spread of the virus. Although nearly 20% of our catchment population has received some protection from COVID-19, it remains important to continue following public health advice until the majority of our communities have been fully vaccinated. This includes limiting close contacts to household members, staying home as much as possible, wearing masks, washing our hands and travelling for only essential reasons.
We would like to thank everyone for keeping the safety of our communities top of mind as we work on immunizing the rest of our population.
