The Canadian Rangers will assist in the distribution of vaccines in northern Ontario.
The federal government has granted the province’s request to enlist the military to help distribute immunizations in isolated communities in northern Ontario as COVID-19 numbers grow.
Bill Blair, Ottawa’s minister of emergency preparedness, announced on Saturday that the Canadian Rangers, who serve in the Armed Forces in isolated and coastal areas of the country, will be dispatched to assist First Nations fly-in communities in the province’s north.
The mission will begin on Monday and go through the end of March next year.
“Once again, the Canadian Armed Forces will rely on the Canadian Rangers’ local cultural and operational expertise to assist with the smooth rollout of this immunization programme to vulnerable groups in Northern Ontario,” Blair said in a statement.
The Rangers were involved in similar efforts to assist give COVID-19 vaccines to fly-in First Nations in northern Ontario last January and again this spring.
“The Rangers have shown a steadfast dedication to vaccination efforts in rural and northern areas across the country as the beginning of the pandemic, and we are grateful to have such capable individuals to depend on when indigenous communities need them the most,” Blair said.
Once approved, the province hopes to provide third doses of a COVID-19 vaccine to all who are suitable, as well as first and second doses for children aged 5-11 and those aged twelve and above who have not still been vaccinated.
The number of active cases in the region has surpassed 400, and certain districts are seeing more people test positive now than at any other point throughout the pandemic’s first 20 months.
Get Prince Edward Island and Canada’s top News, Latest News and other News of the world only at the most trustable news website of Canada peledger.com
