WINDSOR, ONT. -- Windsor Regional Hospital has seven freezers that are on-site and ready for the COVID-19 vaccine.
The hospital has procured three -80 Celsius freezers to accommodate the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine and four -25 C freezers for the Moderna vaccine, when they become available.
“We immediately procured freezers sufficient to store the capacity needed for our region literally the minute we heard of the vaccine storage requirements. We will work with ESC partners and the Vaccination Task force on receipt, distribution and inoculation,” said David Musyj, president and CEO, Windsor Regional Hospital.
The -80 C freezers can hold approximately 400,000 doses each. The -25 C freezers can hold approximately 140,000 doses each.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did state last week that the first doses of the vaccines would arrive in Canada in the first quarter of 2021 and that the majority of Canadians would likely be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus by next September.
Ontario Minister of Health Christine Elliott has previously said that Ontario expects to receive a combined 2.4 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines by March 2021, which would be enough to vaccinate 1.2 million Ontarians.
“WRH is communicating with its Erie-St. Clair regional partners to ensure that some of these freezers can be transported to other locations across the region once a distribution plan is confirmed by the province,” said a news release from the hospital.
WRH officials said they will continue to work with the provincial Vaccination Task Force being announced Friday.
