Mississauga hospital administers first doses of its COVID-19 vaccine supply as Ontario rollout expands

TORONTO -- A registered nurse at a Mississauga long-term care home is the first person to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in Peel Region.

“This milestone moment marks a welcome and positive turning point for long-term care and I am proud to have rolled up my sleeve not only for my health, but also for our residents, family and friends,” said Bella Rego, a registered nurse at Camilla Care Community long-term care home.

Rego said she has witnessed the devastating toll COVID-19 has taken on her residents and colleagues during the first wave. She also tested positive for the virus in April and was home isolating for a month before she was cleared to return to work. 

"Taking into consideration for what we've been through, the heartbreaking things that we've been through, this was most important for me," Rego said. 

Rego was immunized at Trillium Health Partners in Mississauga on Monday, one of the first hospitals in the province to distribute the vaccine. 

Trillium Health received its first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine Monday morning. Health care workers at long-term care homes in Peel Region will be the first to be immunized. 

“As we now find ourselves in a second wave with numbers increasing, we know that there is still a lot of work to be done, but today gives much needed hope to brighter days ahead,” said Dr. Dante Morra, who is the chief of staff at Trillium Health Partners.

Trillium Health is one of the 17 hospitals the province announced on Friday that would receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine over the next two weeks.

Trillium Health Partners has cared for more than 800 COVID-19 patients since March. 

“It is truly an honour for Trillium to be a designated hospital to administer the COVID-19 vaccine in this community,” Michelle DiEmanuele, president and CEO of the hospital, said.

“This vaccine not only represents a positive shift in the pandemic’s course, but what can be achieved when partners across all health systems, levels of government and community come together.”

The first 6,000 doses of the vaccine received by the province were sent to Toronto’s University Health Network and The Ottawa Hospital last week. According to the Ministry of Health, more than 3,400 frontline health care workers have been vaccinated.

After receiving the vaccine, Rego was met with applause as she left the hospital to return to work.

“It just gives me more hope and faith to go back to work with them,” she said.“ I think I’m covered and that gives me a lot of reassurance.”