Ontario regrets ‘miscommunication’ error that led to false claim of COVID-19 vaccinations in LTC homes

Ontario’s minister of long-term care is apologizing for an earlier statement that claimed all residents in the province’s long-term care homes had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The province had promised to achieve that goal by Feb. 10, and this morning Long-term Care Minister Merrilee Fullerton said in a statement that the goal had been met.

But a spokeswoman for Fullerton issued a statement this afternoon that says residents in a few long-term care homes have yet to receive the first dose of the vaccine.

Krystle Caputo says “a miscommunication” was to blame for the error, which the government ‘regrets.’

Health Minister Christine Elliott says the government expects the outstanding homes will be finished in the coming days.

“There was a miscommunication internally,” Elliot said. “That’s what caused the announcement to be made. There are still a few long-term care homes that still need their residents immunized with the first dose.”

The Ministry of Long-Term Care said earlier today that more than 62,000 residents had received the first dose of the vaccine, and more than 34,000 of them had received their second dose.

Health Minister Christine Elliott is asked how it is possible that the government erred in declaring all long term care residents have had vaccine when they in fact have not – she says it was an error in communication.

— Cynthia Mulligan (@CityCynthia) February 11, 2021

The provincial government said it would maintain the recommended interval of 21-27 days for residents who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Meanwhile, Ontario reported 945 new cases of COVID-19 Thursday, although public health officials said that number was underreported.

Elliott said there are 258 new cases in Peel Region, 116 in York Region, and 112 in Toronto.

A spokeswoman for the ministry said that as Toronto continues to migrate its case counts to the provincial database, Ontario’s daily tally is underreported.

Ontario also reported 14 more deaths linked to the virus.

More than 68,800 tests were completed since Wednesday’s report.

The province said that 14,717 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine were administered since the last daily update.

A total of 426,836 doses of the vaccine have been administered in Ontario so far.

There have been 282,511 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in Ontario since the pandemic began, 263,044 of which have been resolved and 6,614 have led to death.