Clinic for 15,000 Hamilton youth to get shots missed during pandemic

The vaccine clinic at CF Lime Ridge Mall will offer catch-up shots for thousands of Hamilton youth who missed crucial immunizations during the pandemic.

As demand for COVID vaccines dwindle, the mall clinic will add appointments for hepatitis B, meningococcal ACYW-135 and human papillomavirus (HPV) for students in Grade 7, 8 and 9.

It's estimated as many as 15,000 youth are behind on these vaccines.

Due to COVID-related school closures and the prioritization of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, our teams have not been able to do routine school-based clinics for two and a half years, which has led to a large deficit of care," Melissa Biksa, manager of the city's vaccine rollout, told the board of health Monday.

While appointments won't be required for COVID shots, they will be needed for youth looking to catch up on the three added vaccines. Slots can be booked at hamilton.ca/catchupclinics or at 905-974-9848.

The city is also cutting back to one mobile vaccine clinic a day that will run only from Sunday to Thursday, visiting recreation centres and libraries.

We continue to see low uptake of vaccines across the city," said Biksa.

Doses per day have been below 500 most days since March 12 - it was down to 244 shots on March 20 and 256 on March 21. It compares to a peak of over 10,000 doses per day on Dec. 21 and Dec. 22. While demand has been dropping since, the numbers were regularly over 1,000 shots a day until Feb. 12.

The mall clinic has capacity to do the catch-up shots because it has seen the average doses per week drop to just over 1,000 in March compared to more than 1,500 weekly in February. Mobile clinics are averaging 737 doses per week.

It's significant because Hamilton has a long way to go still - especially for COVID booster shots, with just 57 per cent of adults having a third dose.

With the less than 60 per cent booster uptake that continues to be a major concern and something that people need to turn their mind to," said Mayor Fred Eisenberger.

The CEO of Hamilton Health Sciences urged residents to get boosted to help fend off a predicted spring spike of hospitalizations that forecasting says is preventable.

A complete vaccine series ... is the best defence against getting and spreading COVID-19 or becoming seriously ill," Rob MacIsaac tweeted Tuesday.

Joanna Frketich is a health reporter at The Spectator. jfrketich@thespec.com