Vaccine eligibility expands to all adults, health units urge patience amid vax demand

Starting at 8 a.m., eligible individuals (born in 2003 or earlier) will be able to book at mass immunization clinics through Ontario's online booking portal or call centre.

By Michael Ranger

Ontario is expanding COVID-19 vaccine eligibility provincewide to anyone 18 and older on Tuesday.

Starting at 8 a.m., eligible individuals (born in 2003 or earlier) will be able to book at mass immunization clinics through the province’s online booking portal or call centre.

Individuals born in 2003 that are still 17-years-old are eligible to book, but only for the Pfizer vaccine. Pfizer is currently the only shot in Canada approved for people younger than 18.

Appointments can also be made directly through public health units that use their own booking system, though eligibility may differ from the provincial system.

In Peel Region, residents aged 16 and older will be able to book through the local booking system.

Booking through York Region will move to 18 and older at 8:30 a.m. Halton Region will follow suit on Wednesday for those 18 and up.

Mayor John Tory announced that to help meet the needs of the increased number of people who are now eligible, 120,000 new vaccination appointments have now opened at Toronto-run clinics.

The city says in the first hour this morning when the age eligibility increased to 18 years and older, 8,926 people booked a vaccine appointment at a mass clinic.

There are approximately 40,000 new appointments are now available to book each week for June 14, June 21 and June 28.

Health Minister Christine Elliott said the early vaccine shipment meant hot spots would get the shots they require and local health officials would be able to direct doses to where they were most needed.

“We have large quantities of vaccines coming in, so I feel confident that the local medical officers of health will know the areas within their regions that they need to continue to target,” she said, adding that the province will send more doses to areas like Toronto if they run out.

“There will be sufficient quantities to continue to make sure that those areas internally determined to be hot spot areas will still receive extra doses of vaccines.”

The province initially said they hoped to open appointments to all adults next week, but were able to move that up due to an influx of vaccine supply.

Canada is getting an additional 1.4 million shots, which were originally slated to land next week but are now expected to arrive before the upcoming holiday weekend.

The federal government says it now expects around 4.5 million doses to arrive this week from Pfizer and Moderna.

The large influx comes as the Liberal government faces questions about who will now lead the vaccination campaign after Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin was sidelined suddenly on Friday and reassigned from his role presiding over the national inoculation effort.


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Ontario dropped the age eligibility to 40 and up last week, and also expanded to include individuals with health conditions deemed “at risk” and Group Two of people who cannot work from home.

Ontario has said they will be making those aged 12-17 eligible to book their COVID-19 vaccine on May 31 and says there will be specially dedicated youth vaccine clinics during the weeks of June 14 and 21.

The province will return to sending the shots to local health units on a per capita basis, after two weeks of sending half the vaccine supply to COVID-19 hot spots.

GTHA mayors called on the Ford government to reconsider its decision to cut vaccine supply by 40 percent in COVID-19 hotspots.

 

Ontario PHUs preaching patience in booking vaccine appointments

Ontario health units are asking for patience and warning of limited COVID-19 vaccine appointments after all adults in the province became eligible for shots today.

A spokeswoman for the premier’s office says more than 183,000 vaccine appointments were booked within the first two hours of expanded eligibility.

Health units across the province warned that appointments might not be available right away amid skyrocketing demand.

The City of Ottawa announced that community clinics were fully booked as of 11 a.m., saying more appointments would become available when the city receives more supply.

In Hamilton, the city acknowledged residents’ frustration while trying to book shots, saying there may be “limited or no appointments” at some of the city’s mass clinics.


With files from The Canadian Press

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