A spokeswoman for Health Minister
"
Pharmacies and physicians offices had been rushing to administer thousands of shots this weekend ahead of their previous Monday expiry date to avoid wasting doses.
But quality checks held up the delivery of thousands of the shots, and many didn't reach their final destinations until Friday.
The head of the
"It's good news,"
Bates said pharmacies in different parts of
"It does give us a longer runway and reduces the risk of any (waste), which I think is a good thing and that's the silver lining in all of this," he said.
The province paused the use of the
Approximately 90,000 people participated in an
The province said 148,972 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine were administered in the past 24 hours for a total of over 8.8 million doses issued over the course of the immunization effort.
Meanwhile,
The new advice comes in response to Premier
The group said some regions could reopen based on the advice of local medical officers of health and continued adherence to public health measures.
"We believe that
The province closed schools in April as COVID-19 cases surged and Ford has said he wants a consensus on the issue from stakeholders before making a decision.
Ford wrote to those experts and education stakeholders Thursday, giving them a day and a half to respond to a series of questions on the possible reopening of classrooms for in-person learning.
The premier has said he doesn't want to rely solely on the advice of the province's top public health official, Dr.
"I know very clearly where
The science table said in Saturday's report that the closure may be harming some students' physical and mental health and reopening would allow schools to re-establish contact with teachers and peers.
"This deterioration is now evident in the form of increased ambulatory care use and hospital admissions, most poignantly for children and youth with eating disorders," the report said.
"We believe these mental health indicators represent the tip of the iceberg and that children and youth mental health will present significant long-term challenges during our recovery from the pandemic."
The science table recently said reopening schools could cause COVID-19 case rates to rise between six and 11 per cent.
But the group said Saturday it now believes the resulting case increases from re-opening schools would be small and most public health units feel that they can manage those increases.
"Schools that re-open should maintain their public health measures vigorously and build on the strategies they have already deployed to limit spread," they said.
The group also called on the province to use the summer to improve school ventilation and continue efforts to vaccinate students.
The letter from the province's science advisers was co-signed by 10 other groups including the
This report by
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