Today, the Ontario government announced the appointment of nine members of the new Ministers’ COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Task Force. The task force, chaired by General retired) Rick Hillier, former Chief of Defence Staff for the Canadian Forces, will oversee the delivery, storage and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.
Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health and Solicitor General Sylvia Jones, confirmed the following individuals will join General Hillier to advise on the planning and execution of the province’s COVID-19 immunization program:
- Dr. Dirk Huyer, Ontario’s Chief Coroner and Coordinator of Provincial Outbreak Response
- Dr. Homer Tien, trauma surgeon and President and CEO, Ornge
- Dr. Maxwell Smith, bioethicist and assistant professor, Western University
- Dr. Isaac Bogoch, infectious diseases consultant and internist, Toronto General Hospital
- Ontario Regional Chief RoseAnne Archibald of Taykwa Tagamou Nation
- Dr. Regis Vaillancourt, Director of Pharmacy and Integrated Pain Services, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario
- Linda Hasenfratz, CEO, Linamar Corporation
- Angela Mondou, President and CEO, TECHNATION
- Mark Saunders, former Toronto Police Chief
“This is a critical stage in our fight against COVID-19. The task force we have assembled will play a key role in developing and implementing Ontario’s immunization program,” said Minister Elliott. “I am confident that with the collective knowledge, experience and advice from these experts, Ontario will be ready to deliver the vaccines in an ethical, timely and effective manner as soon as they are available.”
The task force will work in partnership with several ministries to provide the government with diverse expertise in operations and logistics, federal-provincial and Indigenous relations, health and clinical domains, behavioural science, public health and immunization, ethics, and information technology and data.
Beginning immediately, the task force will focus on several key areas, specifically delivery, logistics and administration, clinical guidance as well as public education and outreach. This morning, General Hillier led a successful tabletop exercise on the distribution of the first 100,000 doses, provincial officials said. The task force will hold its inaugural meeting at 1 p.m. today to discuss priority populations for receiving the vaccine. Premier Ford will participate in this meeting and, as such, will not hold a press conference this afternoon.
