COVID-19 Vaccination Contact Information and Eligible Health Care Workers

Information for COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution to Health Care Workers

To plan for local vaccine distribution, TBDHU is following the Ministry of Health’s COVID-19: Guidance for Prioritizing Health Care Workers for COVID-19 Vaccination.

This survey collects information on health care workers and will be used to plan vaccine distribution in Thunder Bay and the District.

The survey is organized by priority category as set by the Ministry guidelines (i.e. Very high priority/High priority/Moderate priority). The health care workers in your clinic may fall into more than one category. The survey DOES NOT ask for employee-specific information in order to register individuals for vaccine appointments.

TBDHU will collect, sort and forward this information to the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC), who will contact you directly when there are openings for your health care workers to be vaccinated. They will be vaccinated according to the prioritization and won’t necessarily be offered vaccination appointments all at the same time.

If you have staff in more than one community, please note this in the comment section.

Thank you for your assistance.

Definition of a Health Care Worker (HCW):

The Ministry of Health's COVID-19: Guidance for Prioritizing Health Care Workers for COVID-19 Vaccination defines a ‘health care worker’ as:

· Any regulated health professionals and any staff member, contract worker, student/trainee, registered volunteer, or other essential caregiver currently working in a health care organization, including workers that are not providing direct patient care such as cleaning staff, food services staff, information technology staff, security, research staff, and other administrative staff.

· Workers providing a healthcare service or direct patient service in a congregate, residential or community setting outside of a health care organization (e.g., nurse providing patient care in a school, worker performing personal support services in an assisted living facility, medical first responder in the community, peer worker in a shelter).

As noted in the Ministry Guidance document, where a health sector has been named in the priority sector all workers in that sector are included (e.g. including custodial, security and reception staff).

Where a non-health setting has been named, only workers providing a health service or direct patient care are included.