Despite local speculation that it would be Thorold's community arena that would house the upcoming mass vaccinations for residents, some of Thorold's city council agrees that the most central part is to get doses into arms as fast and safely as possible.
"I would have preferred to have the vaccinations in our own city," said Coun. Ken Sentance.
"But we don't make those decisions. We haven't quite given up on the idea of having our own centre if it turns out that things aren't working. As long as the process doesn't get hampered, it is right in our back yard."
It was on Thursday that the region, backed by Niagara's 12 mayors, released a full list of planned immunization clinics across Niagara, revealing that Thorold and St Catharines would be sharing Brock University as the vaccination clinic.
Thorold's fire chief Terry Dixon is a part of the local contingency group that works closely with Public Health on the pandemic response.
He told Thoroldnews.com in an email that he doesn't view Brock University as the ideal site for Thorold's elderly population to get their immunization, but that the decision ultimately was made by the region's public health agency and was out of the hands of local stakeholders.
"I believe especially for our seniors this is not a good site. I believe we could have used different facilities in Thorold in the early months (March, April, May) to at least to accommodate our seniors. Unfortunately there is a set criteria that needed to be met and we could not meet all the criteria, but I feel we should have a better site for our seniors," Dixon said.
Coun. Jim Handley said he also had some woes about the location.
"They always seem to think that Brock is the hub of Thorold," Handley said.
"It would have been good if we could have served our citizens with a more central location."
Coun. Fred Neale also had a hard time understanding the rationale, and said the location could be confusing to some elderly patients, due to the complex layout of the university.
"We have two great arenas here, with great surfaces. St Catharines used their arena for testing. I don't understand why we can't use ours, and have one site for St Catharines and one for Thorold."
It is not yet clear in what part of the university the vaccinations will take place, although Neale, Sentance and Dixon said it is likely that it will be the university gym that will serve as the clinic.
Vaccinations of the general public will not begin until later this year, following the provincial rollout plan that is prioritizing seniors and vulnerable populations.
See the region's announcement for more information about the plan for the vaccine distribution in Niagara.
