“Things are looking really good,” says Doctor Norm Bottum with the Haliburton Highlands Family Health Team (HHFHT)
No new cases were reported by the Health Unit Friday afternoon. There is one unsolved case in Haliburton. A total of 51 cases of the coronavirus have been reported locally since the pandemic began.
Bottum says Haliburton County has averaged one case a week for a “long time.”
Data is not available from the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit on how many vaccines have been administered in its medical region, but since the Moderna vaccine was delivered to Haliburton, the Health Unit has been working to get the shot in the arms of long-term care residents.
“We’re very optimistic that we can get these vaccines soon before there’s a third wave through the area,” Bottum says. He adds that officials with HHFHT are “excited” to see the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine supply will be increasing. He says that they expect to another bath of doses locally in March.
Bottum says frontline healthcare workers – especially in long-term care homes – need to be immunized. Most residents are, he adds, so shots need to be in the arm of the staff as well. “As far as our next group, which will be our 80 plus patients, that will be the end of March or early April,” Bottum says.
He believes there’s a “great optimism” locally and around the world. “The vaccines are living up to their reputation,” he says. “They are giving 90 plus percent protection to those who are immunized.”