OTTAWA -- The city's first pop-up vaccination clinics for adults 80 and older and adult recipients of chronic home care will be held in certain neighbourhoods starting next week.
The news was announced at city council on Wednesday.
The first clinics will be located in the high-risk neighbourhoods of Ledbury, Heron Gate, Ridgemont, Emerald Woods, Sawmill Creek, and Riverview.
More details on how to book an appointment will be made available this coming Monday, March 1.
These areas are being targeted first because of a limited supply of vaccine doses and because they are experiencing higher rates of COVID-19 transmission, Emergency and Protective Services General Manager Anthony Di Monte said.
Broader population of seniors to receive vaccines later in March and into the summer
Vaccinations for the broader community of adults 80 and older will begin later in March, pending vaccine supply. Those who do not live in high-risk areas will be notified about when and where they can receive their vaccine through several channels. The City and Ottawa Public Health are working on a strategy to reach out to this group, including advertisements, public service announcements, and media appearances.
The city estimates it will need 88,000 doses to vaccinate all adults 80 and older who want a vaccine.
Provincial officials announced Wednesday that an online portal for booking vaccine appointments would be launched March 15. Once the platform is launched, people over the age 80 in Ontario can begin booking their appointments first. People over the age of 75 will be able to book starting in April and in May, people over the age of 70 will have access. In June, people aged 65 and over will be able to book an appointment. People over the age of 60 can start booking in July.
The city's vaccination efforts through January and February were largely focused on long-term care homes and retirement homes. Work is now underway to inoculate first responders, with shots being given to paramedics and firefighters already.
Data from Ottawa Public Health show 91 per cent of long-term care home residents had received both required vaccine doses as of Feb. 14 and 84 per cent of retirement home residents had received their first shot as of Feb. 21. The city said in a memo that it would complete first doses in retirement homes by the end of the day Tuesday.
More than 48,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Ottawa since mid-December. Ottawa has received 57,820 doses of vaccine to date.
Community clinics
Di Monte said the first community vaccination clinics should open once there is enough vaccines. There will be seven community clinics across the city.
The timeline for opening these clinics will depend on vaccine supply. Clinics will open incrementally as supply increases.
Once open, the clinics will operate from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days per week, and will have the capacity to deliver nearly 11,000 immunizations per day. Once enough enough doses are available, the clinics can be up and running with 72-hours' notice, Di Monte said. The city is also exploring the idea of operating the clinics 24/7.
The planned clinic locations are:
- Ruddy Family YMCA-YWCA, 265 Centrum Blvd.
- St. Laurent Complex, 525 Coté St.
- Horticulture Building, Lansdowne Park, 1525 Princess Patricia Way
- Canterbury Recreation Complex, 2185 Arch St.
- Ottawa City Hall, 110 Laurier Ave. W
- Nepean Sportsplex, 1701 Woodroffe Ave.
- Eva James Memorial Community Centre, 65 Stonehaven Dr.
There will also be a clinic at the Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus and a second hospital clinic at the Queensway Carleton Hospital.
The Queensway Carleton Hospital said in a news release Wednesday afternoon that it had completed preparations to open a vaccination clinc. It will open when there is sufficient supply of vaccines. The clinic will be operated by QCH physicians, nurses, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and volunteers.
Mobile vaccination teams will continue to be deployed on an as-needed basis to vaccinate targeted populations, including the homeless and rural residents. Pop-up clinics will also be used as needed in certain neighbourhoods.
You can watch the city council meeting on on the city's YouTube channel.
Provincial priorities
According to provincial guidelines, the following groups will be prioritized through the remainder phase one:
- adults 80 years of age and older;
- staff, residents and caregivers in retirement homes and other congregate care settings for seniors (for example, assisted living);
- high priority health-care workers (including all frontline hospital and acute care staff with COVID-19 patients and/or high-risk exposure to COVID-19 and all patient-facing health-care workers involved in the COVID-19 resonse);
- all Indigenous adults; and
- adult recipients of chronic home care.
Phase two is anticipated to begin in April, pending vaccine supply. This phase will focus on the following groups:
- older adults, beginning with those 79 years of age and decreasing in five-year increments over the course of the vaccine rollout;
- people who live and work in high-risk congregate settings (for example, shelters, community living);
- frontline essential workers, including first responders, education workers and the food processing industry;
- individuals with high-risk chronic conditions and their caregivers; and
- other populations and communities facing barriers related to the determinants of health across Ontario who are at greater COVID-19covid 19 risk.
Phase three is set to begin in August. During this phase, the province expects all remaining Ontarians in the general population who wish to be vaccinated will receive the vaccine.
Correction:
A previous version of this article said community vaccination clinics could open by mid-March. More accurately, the timeline for opening the community clinics is based on vaccine supply.
A previous version of this article stated people can begin booking their COVID-19 appointments on March 22. You will be able to book your appointment starting March 15.
