THUNDER BAY - As the province enters phase two of it’s vaccine rollout strategy, it is expanding the age ranges for individuals eligible to receive the shot and those aged 60 and over can soon book an appointment, including in the Thunder Bay District.
During a media briefing on Tuesday, Premier Doug Ford said the province is beginning phase two of its vaccine rollout strategy in an effort to protect those most at risk.
“We are now moving to protect those with highest risk health conditions and care givers,” Ford said.
Those age 60 and over in the Thunder Bay District can book an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine starting April 7 at 8:00 a.m. through the province's online booking systeml for the vaccination clinic held at the CLE Coliseum building.
Those with high-risk medical conditions and caregivers will be able to book vaccine appointments, including at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.
Ford also announced that areas designated as COVID-19 hotspots can begin offering vaccines to those over the age of 50.
The hotspot areas include Durham Region, Halton Region, City of Hamilton, Niagara Region, Ottawa, Peel, Simcoe-Muskoka District, Region of Waterloo, Wellington-Dufferin Guelph, Windsor-Essex, York Region, Toronto, and Southwestern Public Health.
While cases in the Thunder Bay District have been on the decline, there were numerous calls by public health officials and municipal leaders to designate the district as a hotspot.
However, the provincial government designates hotspots based on historic and ongoing rates of death, transmission, and hospitalizations.
"As soon as vaccines arrive our focus is turning to the communities hit hardest by COVID-19 and those with the highest-risk health conditions,” Ford said. “With the extraordinary work of Team Ontario we aim to deliver over 9 million vaccinations across Ontario by the end of June."
The province has already administered more than 2.6 million doses of the vaccine to date.
The province has recently seen a surge in daily new COVID-19 cases, with 3,065 cases reported on Tuesday.
Variants of concern are fueling a third wave of the virus and last week, the provincial government activated its emergency break and put the entire province into shutdown.
According to Ford, given reports that many people are continuing to gather and packed retail spaces, there could be further restrictions coming.
“A lot of people were going into the malls and coming out with no bags,” he said. “That tells me they were just out for a daily jaunt. You can’t do that. Going to the malls is not essential.”
“This is moving day by day, hour by hour. I think we made a massive move last week by basically shutting down the entire province. Shutting down thousands of businesses that I hate doing. We will have further restrictions moving forward very quickly. We need to focus on where we see the problem.”
