Hamilton representatives outraged over exclusion of pharmacies from province's vaccine program

Representatives of Hamilton's lower city expressed outrage Monday over a decision by the province to leave some pharmacies out of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

Andrea Horwath, MPP, Hamilton Centre; Matthew Green, MP, Hamilton Centre; Jason Farr, Ward 2 councillor; Nrinder Nann, Ward 3 councillor; Maureen Wilson, Ward 1 councillor; and Sam Merulla, Ward 4 councillor, issued a joint statement describing the exclusion as incomprehensible.

"We join with the residents of lower Hamilton to express our outrage at the provincial government's decision to exclude the lower City of Hamilton in their COVID-19 vaccine rollout via local pharmacies," the representative said.

"Despite the number of essential workers and vulnerable people living in these neighbourhoods, the province designated no pharmacies in inner city communities for the community pharmacy locations rollout.

"This exclusion is incomprehensible and irresponsible given the risks in lower and inner-city Hamilton," the statement continued.

According to the representatives, this decision by Premier Doug Ford and the Ontario COVID Vaccine Distribution Task Force to leave out lower Hamilton is counter to the advice of Hamilton Board of Public Health, which provided feedback regarding the selection of pharmacies by local and the evidence-based impacts of COVID-19 on higher density neighbourhoods experiencing the greatest social determinants of health.

They said the decision "is nothing short of reckless."

The representatives, who are from all three levels of government, are calling on the premier and the Ontario COVID Vaccine Distribution Task Force to "reconsider their negligence," and supply pharmacies in lower city Hamilton with vaccines to protect residents.