Dear Colleagues,

Happy New Year and to a healthier 2021 for everyone. I am writing with a request as it relates to primary care’s role in Phase 1 of Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout. Most of you will have seen the Ontario government's announcement yesterday about long-term care.

We know you are looking for information and we are strongly behind family physicians being involved in the vaccine rollout. We are committed to providing you with information as it becomes known to us and to reinforcing your critical role in vaccine distribution. Stay tuned for further updates.

The OCFP’s focus has been on several fronts:

• strong and consistent advocacy for the involvement of family physicians in COVID vaccine planning and distribution, and being vaccinated themselves;
• building a united family physician and primary care voice with partners; and
• supporting family physicians with timely and practical resources about COVID vaccinations.

Vaccine Rollout

• Based on the government's current vaccination plan, our understanding is that community family physicians will be included in Phase 2 which is planned for late winter, after the vaccination of residents, caregivers and healthcare providers in congregate care settings for seniors, as well as hospital healthcare providers and people in remote Indigenous communities.

• In Phase 3, vaccines will be available more widely across Ontario for all patients who want to be immunized, and we understand this is planned for Spring/Summer 2021. These timelines are of course subject to vaccine availability. We don't yet have specific details to share at this time.

• We continue to strongly advocate for timely distribution of the COVID vaccine to family physicians and our staff and patients. As we get new information, we will keep you updated.

Update: Vaccination in Long-Term Care (LTC) and Retirement Homes (RH)

The OCFP is focused on supporting all efforts to get Ontario residents in long-term care and retirement homes vaccinated ASAP. The rollout has lagged to date and needs urgent attention. We know that family physicians are ready to step up and MUST play a role in this effort.

• Local Public Health Units will begin to play a lead role in the distribution of the vaccines to LTC and RH. We do not have details on their specific plans or timing of those plans; we do anticipate this will vary across regions.

• In some regions, family physicians are already participating in the initial distribution of the COVID vaccine alongside hospital and public health partners and we applaud these joint efforts. We are amplifying these examples as ones to learn from and follow across the province. We are also advocating for planning now for the wider vaccination rollout in Phase 2 and beyond.

The OCFP is part of the COVID-19 Vaccination Action Council, a coalition of primary care associations* that formed in December to advocate for the voice and leadership of primary care in Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout. Our coalition is working with many partners in public health and hospitals to reinforce primary care and family physician willingness to help meet this urgent and immediate need in LTC and RH.

A Request: Please Complete this Survey to Indicate Your Capacity to Support Phase I

To support Public Health efforts, we have been asked to distribute this brief survey to help identify who is able to support this initial phase of the COVID vaccination effort in LTC and RH as soon as vaccines become available to distribute more widely in these settings. We are optimistic about the potential of this partnership with Public Health. However, if you are encountering any challenges, please let us know.

Please complete this survey once only – even if you are a member of multiple associations; also please do not complete the survey if you have already indicated elsewhere your ability to support Phase 1 in your region.

The data you provide will only be shared with your affiliated local Public Health Unit as needed.

Practical resources

• With the UofT DFCM, we are hosting our next Community of Practice session on COVID-19 vaccines with Drs. Zainab Abdurrahman, Hugh Boyd, and Noah Ivers this Friday, Jan. 8, 8 to 9 a.m. ET. Register here.

• Here is an email template you can adapt for your practice to help answer questions from your patients – my thanks to Dr. Jennifer Young, OCFP Past President, for sharing her draft with us.

• This MOH webpage includes vaccine-relevant information for healthcare professionals, such as scripts for obtaining consent and an operations checklist for planning a vaccine clinic. Watch for updated information.

• The CEP has updated its COVID-19 vaccine resource page, including information on the Moderna Vaccine.

• The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) has reaffirmed its statement on vaccine and pregnancy. We are awaiting the official Ministry update.

• The CFPC will host a livestreamed vaccine update for family physicians webinar on Jan. 12 at 12 p.m. ET., with presenters Drs. Gerald Evans, Mike Kolber and Caroline Quach-Thanh.

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Given the scale and urgency of vaccinations required across the province, we will need to work collectively as a health system. Our role as family physicians in Ontario’s vaccine rollout is critical – we know our patients and communities best and can address questions and get vaccines into arms. We are 15,000 strong and ready to vaccinate.

Thank you for your continued hard work and commitment to patient care during this pandemic. On behalf of the OCFP, rest assured we are advocating at every table and in every conversation for the central role of family physicians in these efforts. I remain inspired and humbled by our community of family physicians across this province.

Liz 

*COVID-19 Vaccination Action Council

Ontario College of Family Physicians
Ontario Medical Association Section on General and Family Practice
Ontario’s Academic Chairs of Family Medicine
Alliance for Healthier Communities
Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario
Indigenous Primary Health Care Council
Nurse Practitioners' Association of Ontario
Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic Association