Transparency needed about diverted vaccine shipments: Horwath

HAMILTON – Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath released the following statement:
“Disturbing new reports from the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit show that the Ford government diverted a shipment of Moderna vaccine that may have helped to prevent the deadly outbreak at Roberta Place. This follows similar concerns raised last week by Niagara medical officials about yet another diverted shipment of Moderna.

Last April Doug Ford said to Ontarians, ‘You deserve to know what I know when you’re making decisions for yourself, your family and your community.’ Yet here we are, almost a year later, with no clear picture of how decisions are being made to distribute vaccines. Ontario has received more than 277,000 doses of the vaccine, yet has only vaccinated roughly 35,000 long-term care residents.

I’m calling on Doug Ford to live up to his promises and make Ontario’s vaccination plan fully transparent. Ontarians deserve to see real time information on a publicly accessible dashboard that shows the most current data on vaccine inventories, current allocations by location, and timetables. Any decision to reallocate vaccine must be backed up by clear medical justification.

Ontarians in every region of our province need to have confidence in the vaccine rollout. Families are in agony waiting for their parent or grandparent to get the shot before they get the virus. Frontline workers are living with the stress of being at risk every day, not knowing when their turn will come. Hiding information only adds to all the anguish and anxiety.”