OTTAWA -- All adults in Ottawa are now eligible to book COVID-19 vaccines at mass immunization clinics, ahead of the province's original schedule, but Ottawa Public Health says all available appointments have been booked. 

The provincial portal opened to anyone born in or before 2003 at 8 a.m. Tuesday. By 10:30 a.m., Ottawa Public Health said there were no more local appointments available.

"While the silver lining of 'everyone wants a vaccine' is indeed encouraging, we acknowledge how frustrating this is," OPH said in a tweet. "We anticipate more appointments will open when more vaccine becomes available."

The City only opens vaccine appointments when they know they have vaccine supply in hand. 

The province's original schedule had people aged 30 and older booking appointments this week, and those 18 and older the week of May 24. However, with 2.2 million doses arriving in the province this week, they opened it up to all adults on Tuesday.

"This high number of doses is due to an early delivery of the week of May 24 shipment, to accomodate the long weekend, and is an opportunity for the province to offer an appointment to receive the vaccine to more Ontarians ahead of schedule."

People who are 17 years old and turning 18 this year are also eligible to book appointments, but only for the Pfizer vaccine. That vaccine is the only shot approved by Health Canada for kids 12 and over.

The provincial website will show which clinics aren't booking 17-year-olds.

With so many people becoming eligible at once, officials are urging patience, saying not everyone will be able to book an appointment Tuesday.

"As we've always done from the beginning of this, we will load on appointments as supply becomes available,” board of health chair Keith Egli told guest host Graham Richardson on Newstalk 580 CFRA's "Ottawa at Work with Leslie Roberts" on Monday.

"Not everybody tomorrow is likely to get an appointment but they will continue to fill in. As supply comes, we'll open up those windows of vaccine appointments and just continue on in that manner."

Egli told CTV News Ottawa that more than 220,000 residents would become eligible for vaccines Tuesday morning.

"We don't have the capacity to book 200,000 appointments in a day, nor do we necessarily have the supply of vaccine, so we're going to continue to do what we've been doing since the beginning, which is as we secure vaccine supply, we know for sure it's coming in, then we open up more windows of availability," he said.

Ottawa residents said they were relieved to hear that younger people would soon be eligible to book vaccines, but some were worried that the size of the cohort becoming eligible would swamp the system.

"It's great news. We've been waiting for over a year, so being eligible tomorrow is fantastic for a vaccine," said Mike DesLauriers. "I hope the system isn't going to crash. Everyone's going to be on there at 8:01 trying to do the same thing."

"The younger generation's been waiting for a while and we're pretty excited about it," said Jaime Dimillo.

"I think we should've had it a bit more spaced out," said Celia McDiarmid. "We were still at 40 and now all of a sudden it's like, 18; everybody. It's like, woah, I think they should've planned it a little bit better."

The news comes after the city surpassed a key milestone in the vaccine rollout over the weekend.

The city announced on Sunday that 50 per cent of the population aged 18 or older have received their first dose of vaccine.

Meanwhile, the city of Ottawa is stopping the pop-up clinic pilot project that saw clinics held in high-priority neighbourhoods across the city.

You can book an appointment through the province's online booking portal or by calling the Provincial Vaccine Booking Line number at 1-833-943-3900.

Ontarians 12 to 17 will be eligible to book a COVID-19 vaccine appointment the week of May 31.

DROP-IN CLINICS

The city of Ottawa is wrapping up drop-in clinics in high priority neighbourhoods.

A memo to council shared by Coun. Mathieu Fleury on social media said a pop-up clinic held May 15-16 for the communities of Bayshore-Belltown and Whitehaven-Queensway Terrance North would be the final drop-in, pop-up clinic under the pilot project. City staff say they will use the feedback received from the drop-in sites to inform ongoing efforts as part of the neighbourhood vaccination approach.

OTTAWA COMMUNITY CLINICS

The city of Ottawa says appointments are available at the following community clinics until June 14 to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, 

  • The Ruddy Family YMCA-YWCA in Orleans;
  • Ottawa City Hall;
  • The Nepean Sportsplex (Halls A and B);
  • The Eva James Memorial Centre in Kanata;
  • The Queensway Carleton Hospital clinic; and,

A temporary "mega pop-up" clinic is also operating at the Infinity Convention Centre at 2901 Gibford Drive May 17 to 23.

COVID-19 VACCINES ADMINISTERED 

The city of Ottawa surpassed the 50 per cent mark for residents vaccinated with one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine this past weekend.

Mayor Jim Watson and the city tweeted out videos showing the city surpassed the milestone on Saturday.

In an email to CTV News Ottawa on Sunday, public health said 431,676 Ottawa residents have received at least one dose of vaccine as of 11 p.m. Saturday.

WHAT YOU NEED TO BOOK AN APPOINTMENT FOR A COVID-19 VACCINE

The Ontario government says when booking an appointment through the provincial online system, you will be asked for the following information:

  • Government of Ontario green photo health card
  • Birth date
  • Postal code
  • Email address or phone number

At the time of booking, eligible individuals will schedule their first and second vaccination appointments.