The first stage of Ontario's vaccination rollout got a lot clearer Thursday afternoon after tons of questions to start the day, as the man tapped to lead the operation gave specific information around just how many people would be vaccinated in Ontario next week and hopefully this month.
Ret. Gen. Rick Hillier announced that 6,000 Pfizer vaccine doses will arrive in Ontario on Monday, with half going to University Health Network in Toronto and the other half to Ottawa Hospital for "vaccination day" on Tuesday.
The specifcs came after Premier Doug Ford earlier in the day confirmed the two sites would be the first to administer vaccines.
Because Pfizer's is a two-dose vaccine, 3,000 people total will get their first shots on Tuesday, with their second shot 21 days later.
But Hillier also said the province expects to receive another 90,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine this month and pending Health Canada approval, 35,000 to 85,000 of the Moderna version in December as well.
He said staff in congregate care settings will be the first to get them, such as those in long-term care.
"That's where we want to go first," he said.
When asked why Ottawa was selected and not a hospital in Peel Region which is in lockdown, Hillier said they want to be versatile.
"It was good to test the logistic change outside of just Toronto itself and so fly something into Pearson and have to distribute it as far a a field as Ottawa," he said, echoing what Ford said earlier in the day.
"To test and validate provincial distribution networks, as well as in recognition of the challenges the region has faced with certain long-term care home outbreaks," the premier said in a statement.
Long-term care homes cannot serve as vaccination sites for the Pfizer vaccine the government has said because they don't have the necessary deep freeze capabilities.
Hillier also said a total of 13 hospitals are expected to come online as sites by the end of the month as more and more vaccines come in.
He said they're working to schedule specific windows for health care staffers to come in and get vaccinated, so that it's done in an orderly fashion.
The update comes a day after the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine was approved by Health Canada.
Solicitor-General Sylvia Jones said earlier Thursday they would be releasing site information after the COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Task Force finalized security, both physical and cyber.
At the time she spoke, questions around which sites would be selected and the number of vaccines arriving were still unknown.
Of the 249,000 initial two-dose doses from Pfizer coming to Canada, the provincial government expects 40 per cent of them.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said earlier this week the government had been reviewing 21 hospitals with the deep freeze capacity.