THUNDER BAY - More people across the province will be able book an appointment for the COVID-19 vaccine starting next week.
The provincial government announced on Friday that it is opening its online COVID-19 vaccine booking portal to individuals over the age of 75 on Monday.
“As of yesterday, more than 50 per cent of all Ontario residents aged 80 and over have received their first shot,” said Premier Doug Ford during a media briefing on Friday.
“Yesterday was a record day. We administered more than 61,000 doses, bringing our total of COVID-19 vaccines to 1.4 million doses. Because of this progress, we are now ready to take the next step in our vaccine rollout and we are able to do so ahead of schedule.”
The decision to move to booking individuals over the age of 75 follows a decline in the number of people 80-years-old and over booking appointments.
“Those appointments will continue for 80 and over. We have them booked out several weeks,” said General Rick Hillier, the province’s vaccine taskforce lead.
“We are following the trends of booking itself and as soon as those start to decrease below the capacity that we have and the vaccines we are anticipating, we obviously want to move to the next age group and the capacity we have and the vaccines. We don’t want to have a single day with seats empty we otherwise could have filled. In many cases those appointments will be a week or two weeks or three weeks away.”
More pharmacies and primary care clinics across the province will also be permitted to start booking appointments for people over the age of 60 to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine starting Monday.
“We won’t stop there and we can’t stop there,” Ford said. “We want more pharmacies and we want mass immunization sites running at their full potential. We want as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible.”
The province initially opened up a pilot project for the AstraZeneca vaccine to be administered in 327 pharmacies and primary care clinics in Kingston, Toronto, and Windsor Essex for those between the ages of 60 and 64.
It was announced on Friday that in the next two weeks, the number of pharmacies receiving doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine will be expanded to 700 across the province, and more than 1,500 by early April, though no specific pharmacy locations have been listed yet.
“We will have pharmacies with AstraZeneca right across the province in the next two weeks, more than 700 of them, and then the two weeks following that we will double that to more than 1,500 pharmacies right across the province,” Hillier said.
“We have lots of AstraZeneca coming in and booking those appointments to get the vaccine into people’s arms.”
When asked if there are concerns that some people will choose to shop around for a COVID-19 vaccine, avoiding the AstraZeneca shot after several European nations expressed concerns regarding its safety, Ford said Health Canada has already given its approval and deemed all COVID-19 vaccines as safe.
“Over in Europe they confirmed it as well,” Ford said. “I truly believe it’s safe. If anyone told me it wasn’t, I would pull it away in 10 seconds. I would never jeopardize the health of anyone. AstraZeneca, as well as others, it will do two things. It will keep you out of the hospital and keep you safe.”
