Two new COVID vaccination clinics opening in Hamilton
Two new COVID vaccination clinics are opening at FirstOntario Centre and Rosedale Arena.
It's only the tip of the iceberg, I'm happy to say, in terms of what's going to come," Hamilton's medical officer of health, Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, said at a COVID briefing Monday. It will ultimately involve additional sites."
More than 3,000 Hamilton seniors age 85 and older have been vaccinated in the last week outside of shots already provided at long-term-care (LTC) and retirement homes.
The significance of getting seniors' vaccinated was made clear by Ontario's COVID-19 Science Table, which reported Monday the shot has substantially reduced infections, hospitalizations and deaths in LTC.
It's really been encouraging, for the last few days we've had no deaths reported in our long-term-care homes or retirement homes," Ontario's chief medical officer of health, Dr. David Williams, said at a COVID briefing Monday. The vaccine is having a huge effect."
However, those vaccinated are still asked to follow public health measures and reminded recent recommendations for Americans don't apply here.
Meanwhile, Hamilton's COVID-19 vaccination hotline temporarily allowed seniors to book appointments instead of just registering from Friday to Monday. However, it's back to being a registration-only line.
Roughly 7,000 seniors age 85 and over have registered since Feb. 27, but the hotline is still experiencing issues due to high call volumes.
Public health didn't answer questions Monday about how long it's expected to take to get a callback for an appointment at St. Joseph's Healthcare. The latest was within 10 days.
Our temporary phone line system did get overwhelmed by many, many, many, many calls, but it was really to fill a gap in the system so we can get vaccines into individual's arms sooner than waiting for the March 15 start date for the province," said Mayor Fred Eisenberger.
It's also not clear how many appointments are available to seniors a day. Numbers from the West 5th Campus of St. Joseph's show it's higher than the 250 claimed by public health.
The clinic has administered 2,936 first doses during its first week open from March 1 to March 7 to seniors age 85 and above or Indigenous adults age 55 and over.
An additional 200 doses a day are supposed to be given out at mobile community clinics that have been roving around the city since March 3. However, it's unknown how many they've provided so far.
Richardson refused to provide details Monday on accusations that three mobile clinic employees administered 15 COVID-19 vaccine doses to people who are not yet eligible.
The city said in a news release over the weekend the doses were allegedly inappropriately administered Friday and the workers are on paid leave while the claims are investigated.
Hamilton started vaccinating seniors more than two weeks ahead of the province's original March 15 timeline.
The jump-start is significant considering a brief published Monday by the science table estimates vaccinations in LTC prevented 2,079 COVID infections in residents, 249 hospitalizations and 615 deaths as of Feb. 23.
It also estimated 330 infections were prevented among LTC home workers as well as eight hospitalizations and one death.
While the science table showed 92 per cent of LTC residents had received a first dose by Feb. 23, uptake was low for staff at 55 per cent, which Richardson called very concerning."
Hamilton public health hasn't provided information regarding uptake here.
No details have been provided yet for the new clinics located downtown at FirstOntario, on the corner of Bay Street North and York Boulevard, and at Rosedale in east Hamilton at 100 Greenhill Ave.
Hamilton Health Sciences has been vaccinating health-care workers at a north-end clinic.
Joanna Frketich is a Hamilton-based reporter covering health for The Spectator. Reach her via email: jfrketich@thespec.com