THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay District Health Unit is teaming up with schools in the city to hold pop up COVID-19 vaccination clinics.
“We decided to partner with schools, it was a direction that was provided by the Ministry of Health as well as the Ministry of Education, to public health units across Ontario and school boards across Ontario,” said Laura Dennis, manager of the vaccine preventable diseases program.
“So we have entered into a collaborative partnership with our local school boards here, and have started to plan school clinics that are in a school setting, on school grounds to make that as accessible as possible for not only students and school board staff, but any individual that lives in the area that may want to access the vaccine.”
The goal of these pop up school clinics is to offer the opportunity of getting the vaccine to students' families as well as making vaccinations more accessible to people who might not have been able to get the vaccine due the inaccessibility of travel.
“This is an excellent opportunity because we’re right in the heart of a community, and transportation can be a barrier and an obstacle,” said Leslie Hynnes, principal of Sherbrooke Public School.
“Having a walk-in clinic on school premises, particularly outdoors, where it’s nice and free, people can move about freely, without concern, it’s accessible to our families, I’ve heard already from some of our students that they are coming to this clinic with their families.”
The pop-up clinic that was held at Sherbrooke Public School Thursday afternoon was the first of eight that are currently planned to be held at public schools.
“I think it’s an absolutely wonderful idea to reach out into the community and provide these options for people who might not otherwise take advantage of it,” said Ian MacRae, Director of Education for Lakehead Public Schools.
“It’s absolutely crucial, we’ve always prided ourselves on offering what we call “full service” schools, in that, we do provide supports for students' mental health and wellbeing, and this is just another avenue that we’re pleased to offer.”
For more information about future dates and locations, please visit their website.
