The Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Heath Unit, along with many community partners, are pleased to start providing COVID-19 vaccine at on-going community clinics in Kemptville as of February 23, and Almonte, Brockville, and Smiths Falls in the following few days. All appointments are booked ahead of time and there are no walk-ins. As directed by the Ministry of Health, health care workers, with direct contact with people who are at higher risk of having COVID-19, are the first group to be provided vaccine in the community clinics.
For the next several months, these four clinics will be providing vaccine on a rotational basis by appointment only to specific groups following the COVID-19 Distribution and Administration Roll Out Plan based on the provincial framework, and availability of vaccine. Identifying specific groups is necessary because the Health Unit is only given a limited amount of vaccine (for example, right now we usually receive 3,000 to 5,000 doses each week for the approximately 24,000 people in the current priority groups) from the province, and each person needs two doses of vaccine. Once there is a bigger supply of vaccine, there will be more flexibility and residents will also be able to go to vaccine clinics held at specific times and locations in their local communities.
The province has identified individuals aged 80 plus as a priority group to receive the vaccine because of the high risk of serious health problems if they become infected with the COVID-19 virus. Responding to this direction, in the first week of March, we will focus on providing vaccine to residents of the remaining retirement homes. Next will be community members who are aged 80 and over, hopefully by mid-March, depending on availability of vaccine. For individuals in this age group, we are asking that they continue to check for details about the vaccine clinics at www.healthunit.org, on our Facebook and Twitter accounts, from their health care provider, and through local radio and newspaper reports. When it is time to register for the vaccine clinics, the Health Unit will provide information on how to register for a clinic and will have a number to call if help is needed.
For more information, please go to https://healthunit.org/covid-19-vaccine. You can also call the Health Unit at 1-800-660-5853 x 2100, or connect with LGLHealthunit on Facebook and Twitter to receive updates.
