And here they come my the millions....VACCINES!

Everyday, I do a little happy dance when I see all the selfies of ecstatic, newly vaccinated people. You are all providing reassurance to those who might be vaccine hesitant. Keep those selfies coming and don't hesitate to describe your post-vaccination journey; how you felt for the few days after the vaccine. Minor and sometimes tough side effects but all an indication that your immune system is making you immune to COVID-19. Pharmacies will use up their supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine this week with many people holding on waiting lists. Have no fear. This last week of April is when we predicted that millions of vaccines would start arriving every week and through to the end of June. WDG Public Health now anticipates that this region will receive more than 44,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine in May. Taken together with the 7020 doses expected this week, Public Health projects that they will receive more than 51,000 doses of Pfizer by the end of May. “This is tremendous news,” said Dr. Nicola Mercer, Medical Officer of Health and CEO of WDG Public Health. “Our local vaccination program has the capacity to increase volumes at a moment’s notice once we receive increased supply of the vaccine. Many thanks to the Province for this increase that should make a significant impact on our local vaccination timelines if the shipments arrive in Canada as projected.” As of today (April 26, 2021), 87,304 residents of Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine (this includes Public Health and partner clinics, pharmacies and primary care providers). That's 34.2 % of the vaccine eligible population. If the vaccines arrive as expected, and we are confident they will, most people who are presently pre-registered with public health will receive a vaccination by the end of May! By then, according to Dr Nicola Mercer, we should be able to vaccinate more than 50 % of the eligible population in our region. That is remarkable progress. She reminded us today that in order to end this pandemic, we must continue to strive toward meeting and surpassing the goal of 75 percent of eligible residents vaccinated against COVID-19. Get to this number and we will see the amazing effects of herd immunity. COVID does not stand a chance! If you have not pre-registered, please do so as soon as possible. Please visit: wdgpublichealth.ca/register to pre-register for your COVID-19 vaccination. For people registered in Phase III or late Phase II, you may be concerned that you have not received an appointment for your vaccine yet. Have no fear, with the increase in supply, you will be called soon. If more than 10 weeks has passed since you registered, call the public health help line. If you are in phase 1 or phase II and you have a chronic illness or are high risk, call if you do not yet have an appointment. Use this number: Vaccine Reg/Appointment Help Line: 1-844-780-0202. Mon-Fri, 12-8 pm... 3510 new cases in Ontario today. That 7 day rolling average has decreased to 4050. April 24 4370 April 25 4094 April 26 4050 That's the right direction. If you are in a different public health unit, vaccines are arriving for the whole province. Please register through your unit. Blessings and Strength to India and to the family of Emily Victoria Viegas. I will be praying for you for weeks to come. Anne-Marie Please share Received these beauties yesterday. If you are looking for some home grown flowers for an event, to gift or to enjoy, try The Saol Project- Micro Flower Farm and design studio. It's local, it's beautiful! thesaolproject.com 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-