Toronto 
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Eduardo Munoz/Pool via AP
The retired general heading up Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccine program says the province expects to receive the Moderna shot tomorrow.
Retired Gen. Rick Hillier says roughly 50,000 doses are set to be delivered to four sites, then redistributed to long-term care and retirement homes.
He says immunizations should begin at those sites within 48 to 72 hours after the vaccine is received.
Meanwhile, Ontario is reporting nearly 4,500 new cases of COVID-19 over two days and a total of 78 new deaths.
The province says 2,553 new infections were recorded today and 1,939 on Monday.
Ontario also reported 37 new deaths on Sunday and 41 more on Monday.
Provincial COVID-19 data were not released Monday due to the holiday.
Of Tuesday’s case tally, 895 are in Toronto, 496 are in Peel Region, 147 are in Windsor-Essex, 144 are in Hamilton and 142 are in York Region.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said 34,112 tests were completed on Monday and 39,565 the previous day.
Ontario’s chief medical officer of health is expected to provide an update on the pandemic Tuesday afternoon.
Vaccinations in Ontario were also expected to return to full operations Tuesday after being scaled down over the holidays.
The province has said five vaccination clinics were open on Sunday, 10 were back in action Monday and all of them were set to resume immunizations Tuesday.
Hillier said the call to close clinics over Christmas Day and Boxing Day was the “wrong decision.”
“We’ve heard the voices of the people of Ontario, saying ‘get on with this,’ and that’s what we are going to do,” he said Tuesday.
More than 14,000 people in the province have received their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot as of Tuesday morning, he said.
The storage requirement for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine means it will be used primarily in hospitals, while the more recently approved Moderna vaccine will go to long-term care homes, congregate settings and more rural communities.
Critics have taken issue with the pause in vaccinations over the holidays, saying the province can’t afford to delay immunizations.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 29, 2020.
Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press
