‘They’re critical and they’re important to everyone,’ says Fort William Chief on COVID-19 vaccines

Fort William Chief Peter Collins stepped up for one of the first COVID-19 vaccinations at the community’s Feb. 25 vaccination clinic at the Fort William First Nation Community Centre. – Photo supplied

By Rick Garrick

FORT WILLIAM FIRST NATION — About 150 Fort William citizens 55 years and older and with disabilities received COVID-19 vaccinations on Feb. 25 with the assistance of Dilico Anishinabek Family Care at the Fort William First Nation Community Centre.

“It went really well — our team worked in unison with each other and did a really good job getting everybody in and getting everybody vaccinated,” says Fort William Chief Peter Collins. “Hopefully by the six o’clock hour all 150 [COVID-19 vaccine] doses that were shipped to Fort William will be in the arms of [citizens] from the community of Fort William.”

Chief Collins says another 150 vaccinations are scheduled to be delivered on Feb. 26.

“I instructed them not to waste one drop of these vaccines,” Chief Collins says. “They’re critical and they’re important to everyone.”

Chief Collins says it was important for him, along with one of the most senior citizens in the community, to step up for the first vaccinations, noting he qualified for the 55 years and older age category.

“It’s a very important message to the community because there are some folks out there that are reading false information and afraid of the vaccine,” Chief Collins says. “My message was to the [citizens] of this community is the vaccine is safe for you. It’s safe for me and safe for everybody to take, so that is why I thought it was important to lead the way.”

Chief Collins says the community is looking to receive more supplies of the vaccine in the middle of March.

“That hasn’t been confirmed yet but we’re working on the details of that,” he explains. “We’re hoping to have about 75-80 per cent of our community vaccinated by the end of March.”

Darcia Borg, executive director at Dilico, says Dilico was honoured to be working in partnership with First Nations to deliver COVID-19 vaccination clinics.

“We are grateful to our staff that have been working tirelessly to plan and prepare for the roll-out of the clinics as fast as the vaccines are being made available,” Borg says. “Chi-Miigwech to our frontline workers for their continued efforts to protect children, families and communities.”

Dr. Janet DeMille, medical officer of health at Thunder Bay District Health Unit, announced that it was working closely with Fort William to provide access to the vaccine in a Feb. 18 open letter to the community.

“COVID-19 spreads very easily and can make some people very sick,” DeMille states in the letter. “Those who are at highest risk for severe illness from this virus have been chosen to be among the first to be offered protective vaccines. This includes First Nations communities, as well as those living in long-term care homes and health care workers in Ontario.”

Chief Collins says it was important to get the community vaccinated as the number of confirmed cases grows in Thunder Bay and the surrounding area, with 142 announced from Feb. 22-25. Fort William also had two confirmed cases in the past week, one announced on Feb. 19 and the other Feb. 22.

“As the numbers grow in Thunder Bay, it is very concerning for Fort William,” he says. “This will help alleviate some of the problems that we have but we’re not out of the woods by any imagination. We’ve had six cases in our community; four have been resolved now and two are still in quarantine right now.”

Chief Collins says he has received good feedback from the community on the vaccination process.

“Elders are starting to phone me thanking me for the work I’ve done to make sure they are protected,” he notes.