when ottawa mayor jim watson sent a letter to premier doug ford this week asking for 40,000 more doses of vaccine, it wasn’t the first time he has expressed frustration about ottawa’s apparent covid-19 vaccine gap.
since february, the mayor has spoken numerous times with ottawa cabinet minister lisa macleod and with dr. homer tien, who leads ontario’s covid-19 vaccine rollout, about the city’s vaccine allocation. ottawa public health and city vaccination officials have also been pushing for more vaccines.
in late march, watson said the city was getting “fewer vaccines on a per capita basis” than other municipalities.
last week, anthony di monte, the city’s general manager for emergency and protective services, warned that, if the province allowed people 70 and over to book quicker second doses, it would add up to 80,000 people looking for appointments in june “that are simply not available” in ottawa.
this week, frustrations boiled over across the city as many people were unable to book those accelerated second doses.
“the situation seems at odds with the reality in some other regions of ontario,” the mayor wrote to ford.
is the province’s second-largest city getting shortchanged when it comes to covid-19 vaccines?