Six milestones in Ottawa’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts one year since first dose

Nurse Venus Lucero administers the first Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Ottawa Hospital to Jo-Anne Miner at a vaccination clinic, Tuesday December 15, 2020 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

It has been one year since the first COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered in Ottawa.

Jo-Anne Miner, a personal support worker at St. Patrick's Home on Riverside Drive was the first person in the capital to receive a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. She was given the shot just after 8 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020.

Nearly 1.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered locally in the past year.

Here are some of the major milestones in the city's largest mass inoculation effort in history.

First shots administered

One hundred people were given their first COVID-19 vaccine doses on Dec. 15, 2020 at the Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus. It came just over nine months after the first case of COVID-19 was announced in Ottawa.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and then-Health Minister Patty Hajdu visited the hospital that morning as the first vaccines were given out.

"It will still be a long winter, but as we start seeing the proportion of the population increase that has vaccines,we're going to be able to start thinking about what measures we can loosen a bit," Trudeau told health care workers. "But before we get there, we've got to get through the winter...we're going to do it together."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gives the thumbs up to a woman who had received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Ottawa Hospital, Tuesday December 15, 2020 in Ottawa. (Adrian Wyld/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Long-term care residents get their first shots

The City of Ottawa moved quickly to inoculate residents of long-term care homes, who were affected most severely during the early days of the pandemic.

On Jan. 5, 2021, 93-year-old Arnold Roberts, a resident of the Perley and Rideau Veterans' Health Centre was given the first dose by a mobile vaccination team. The vaccine, which required ultra-cold storage, was previously only available at the hospital, meaning that it was largely given to health-care and personal support workers at first.

Once the vaccine became mobile, the effort to protect long-term care residents ramped up quickly. By Feb. 11, 2021, 91 per cent of all long-term care residents in Ottawa had been fully vaccinated. Efforts then moved to retirement homes, with 89 per cent of residents fully vaccinated by March 20.

Arnold Roberts, 93, was the first resident of the Perley and Rideau Veterans' Health Centre to receive the vaccine at the 450-bed facility. Jan. 5, 2021. (Image courtesy of Ottawa Public Health, the Perley and Rideau Veterans' Health Centre, and the Ottawa Hosptial)

Vaccination clinics open to the general public

The City of Ottawa was a step ahead of the Ontario government in launching the first community clinics for the COVID-19 vaccine as efforts began among the general public.

Three community clinics opened March 5, 2021 to serve seven neighbourhoods where the rates of infection were the highest. At first, with supplies limited, only those 80 and older were eligible to receive a vaccine.

The Ontario COVID-19 vaccine portal opened March 15, 2021. In its early days, supplies were strained and appointments were limited, but as more doses of COVID-19 vaccines arrived in Ontario, the portal opened to more and more age groups and appointments were available in abundance.

One million doses administered

On June 28, 2021, the city officially surpassed a major milestone, having administered one million doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

As of June 29, 1,015,759 vaccine doses had been administered in community clinics, pharmacies, pop-up clinics and other locations, according to Ottawa Public Health. The total included 741,114 first doses and 274,645 second doses.

At the time, 79 per cent of adults had had at least one dose and the effort to get second doses into arms was ramping up, with 33 per cent of adults fully vaccinated.

The second dose effort would peak the week of July 4, when nearly 133,000 doses were administered across the city, which stands as the record for the most doses given in a single week. Of those, about half were second shots.

City hits 90 per cent coverage among population 12 and older

On Oct. 18, 2021, Ottawa Public Health announced that 90 per cent of residents 12 and older in Ottawa had received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

That 90 per cent figure was a major target for OPH throughout the inoculation effort. At the time, about 85 per cent of residents 12 and older were fully vaccinated.

As of Monday, 91 per cent of residents 12 and older had one dose and 89 per cent were fully vaccinated.

Children 5 to 11 start receiving vaccines

The first doses of the vaccines for children aged five to 11 started rolling out Nov. 26, 2021.

The ramp up of vaccines for children was the quickest among age groups. Within two weeks, nearly half of all children in that age category had received one dose.

Ottawa Public Health estimates there are about 77,000 children five to 11 in Ottawa.

Sam and Noah receive the COVID-19 vaccine for kids at the Queensway Carleton Hospital on Friday, Nov. 26. (Photo courtesy: Twitter/QCHOttawa)

What's left?

With the arrival of the Omicron variant, there is a renewed push to get booster shots to people who received their second dose at least six months prior.

More than 83,000 booster shots have been administered in Ottawa to date.

There will also be the effort to get children five to 11 back to clinics to receive their second doses. The optimal interval between first and second doses is eight weeks, meaning second doses will likely begin ramping up in the second week of January.

OTTAWA COVID-19 VACCINE QUICK STATS

• Ottawa residents with at least one dose: 879,835
• Ottawa residents with two doses: 817,655
• Percent of population 5 and older with at least one dose: 88 per cent
• Percent of population 5 and older with two doses: 82 per cent

(Ottawa Public Health data as of Dec. 13)