Tillsonburg vaccination clinic is ‘imminent’
Article content
It’s almost here.
“The announcement of a vaccination clinic in Tillsonburg is imminent,” said medical officer of health Dr. Joyce Lock during an April 14 media conference call.
Earlier reported to be coming in the second half of April, the announcement has been eagerly looked forward to by the community and its residents.
“We’re very much looking forward as a municipality, through the leadership of our senior leadership team and community partners, to anticipate some announcement by Southwestern Public Health regarding a fixed vaccination clinic in the community within the coming days,” said Mayor Stephen Molnar at the town’s April 12 virtual council meeting.
When it opens, the Tillsonburg clinic will administer the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.
Approximately 26 kilometres west of Tillsonburg and recently designated as a ‘hot spot,’ Aylmer will not get a ‘brick and morter’ fixed-location clinic before Tillsonburg.
“We learned that Aylmer was a hot spot just recently,” said Lock, noting the health unit carried on with its plans for a Tillsonburg clinic that were ‘already in the works.’
“In the Oxford area, the citizens had access to Goff Hall (Woodstock) where we could see at maximum 500 people a day, and the citizens in the St. Thomas or Elgin area had access to the (St. Thomas arena) clinic where we are aiming to get up to 800 patients a day. So to provide accessibility on a similar level in the Oxford area we worked with our partners to find the clinic location in Tillsonburg. That work was going on well before the (Aylmer) hot spot began.
“That said, the hot spot will get additional attention, and we will ensure that there will be ready access to vaccine for the members of that community.”
As of April 11, 32,000 residents of Oxford and Elgin counties had been given at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
“At this time (April 14), we have two large clinics – one in St. Thomas and one in Woodstock… which are currently administering the Pfizer vaccine.”
Most people getting the Pfizer vaccine (60-and-older as of last week) are receiving it based on a schedule of 112 days between doses, she noted. Some people are eligible to receive their second shot within 28 days, such as people with highest risk health conditions.
“We heard your frustrations with booking second appointments. We are working on a process to do this efficiently and remove the stress from booking.”
Lock noted that as of April 14 there were at least 10 pharmacies in the Oxford-Elgin region with COVID-19 vaccine (in Woodstock, Ingersoll, St. Thomas, Aylmer) with more coming on board every day.
“We anticipate at least a dozen more in the coming days.”
The provincial list of pharmacies with AstraZeneca vaccine, updated Monday, added five Tillsonburg and area pharmacies.
“The AstraZeneca vaccine has been delivered to millions of individuals across the globe,” said Lock in an email. “More clarity on the safety of the vaccine has been unfolding as more and more doses are administered. It has been observed that the vaccine associated blood clots have been very rare in older individuals with events tending to occur in younger individuals. The United Kingdom has limited the age cut-off for vaccine eligibility to those over 30. Ontario is taking a cautious approach and limiting eligibility to those over 40.
“The best COVID-19 vaccine is the one you get in your arm. We encourage you to consider the AstraZeneca through your pharmacies so you can get your protection sooner.”
Several family physicians in the region are also coming onboard with vaccine, offering vaccinations to patients within their offices.
“This will give people a familiar and comfortable environment in which to ask questions and get vaccinated.
“There will be vaccine for everyone, and I will keep advocating for more,”Lock concluded. “This waiting takes patience, we know that, but we will get everyone vaccinated.”
cabbott@postmedia.com
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.