I had a lovely experience last week. As many of you know, physicians in five public health units are part of a pilot project for the administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine in their offices. I was allotted 27 vaccines. Not many, but enough to run a vaccine clinic and test our capacity to vaccinate patients safely, effectively and according to all the protocols set out by the province of Ontario and Public Health. I did not sleep well most of last week. I have run countless flu vaccine clinics and my staff has immunized thousands of children and adults over the years, but having this vaccine in the office added a layer of responsibility that I have never carried before. This vaccine, along with the mRNA vaccines and several other vaccines in Phase III trials, will save millions of lives and put us in a position to start living our lives again. There was an energetic, anxious buzz as we prepared to vaccinate our first patient. We had about a week to get ready for this day. Not much time to learn a new provincial electronic record keeping system and set up the office with extra staff and strict COVID 19 protocols. My staff rose to the occasion just as they have so many times in the past when I have challenged them with my crazy goals for patient care. I love this team and we love our patients. It was like Christmas morning as the first patients were ushered in. We were all overcome with joy and hope and anticipation. Many of my patients cried as I vaccinated them ( tears of joy). Everyone was grateful for this vaccine and honoured to be part of the first group to receive the vaccine in the office setting. We had a few patients on standby just in case we were able to squeeze a couple of extra doses out of the three precious vials we had received. One lovely patient, who always makes me laugh, was called up. She came to the office with a pink tiarra, a pink and purple boa, a pink sash and I sign on her chest that said, " 2021 HRH COVID Queen". In the middle of a busy vaccine clinic, I stood in the middle of my office and belly laughed. It was a very appropriate joyful sound that added to the general excitement of the day. It also allowed me to release some of the extra tension I had been carrying on my not-so-wide but heavily burdened shoulders. In health care right now, all of our shoulders are heavily burdened. On several occasions, as we ushered patients from the exam room where they were vaccinated to the reception area where they waited for 15 min before checking out with that all important Ministry of Health vaccination document, other patients already waiting cheered and clapped as they took their socially distanced seat. Three high points in my career all equally joyful and all equally laden with extra responsibility: delivering 1500 or so Guelph babies, treating that first HIV patient who was restored to health with miraculous medications and now this, administering COVID-19 vaccines. To top it all off, on the way home, totally exhausted from the effort of the day, I stopped at the home of a house-bound patient and gave him the final dose of this miraculous day. We are so blessed. Despite the background noise about risk and blood clots and side effects and efficacy, bottom line is that these vaccines are safe and highly effective.... 100 % effective at preventing serious illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19. And every single one of us will be offered one of these vaccines by the summer, the second dose by the fall. I predict that we will take back Thanksgiving and Christmas and what a joy that will be. 4,195,000 doses given in Canada so far 1,603,000 in Ontario 35,700 in our health unit Our capacity to vaccinate will ramp up dramatically next week as millions more vaccines arrive. Pray for you health care team. We are tired and this part of our job has just begun. Ontario is holding it's own at about 1600 cases a day but this graph is not so pretty. Click on this link and scroll down to the New Cases Analysis By Date: https://www.covid-19canada.com/graphs Our seven day rolling average has been climbing since Feb.15th. The variants are here, our hospitals and ICU's are filling up again. We are so close. Wear those masks, do not gather outside of the colour restriction guidelines and cheer each other on....from a safe distance. And this message from the GWD public health unit: Eligible priority groups especially high risk groups and people over 80 who have not yet been vaccinated are still strongly encouraged to pre-register and book their appointments online as much as possible as it will be the fastest way to get in the system. Call volumes to the Registration and Booking Help Line are extremely high. It may take 7-10 business days to receive a response. Please only call once and leave a message and only if help is required. Do you best to book online and if you can. o Call 1-844-780-0202 o Available Monday – Friday from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Please do not call Public Health for your COVID-19 test results. Here is the link to register online: https://register.wdgpublichealth.ca/ Our offices may have more vaccine available in the coming weeks. We will call patients in eligible groups. Please do not call your doctor's office. We need the phone lines for urgent medical concerns. Anne-Marie Please share For mental health support here: https://familyserviceguelph.on.ca/ For local assistance with anxiety and depression: www.here4help.ca CMHA WW Website: www.cmhaww.ca Here 24/7 at 1-844-HERE-247 or www.here247.ca. And for post-secondary students, Good2Talk https://good2talk.ca/ For non-Facebook users, you can find this post here: https://braceletofhope.blogspot.com/ And if you'd like to help Bracelet of Hope work towards making sure that Lesotho has access to these vaccines, donate here: https://www.braceletofhope.ca/ways-to-
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