Ten school-based COVID-19 vaccination clinics targeting London neighborhoods with low vaccine coverage rates are beginning Monday, the latest effort by the health unit to get more shots into arms.
Ten school-based COVID-19 vaccination clinics targeting London neighborhoods with low vaccine coverage rates are beginning Monday, the latest effort by the health unit to get more shots into arms.
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The Middlesex-London Health Unit is kicking off its four-week mobile vaccination blitz of schools on Monday at northwest London’s Wilfrid Jury elementary.
Public health officials have been tracking vaccine uptake by neighborhood since the start of the rollout last year and are tailoring the school clinic rollout to places that need it most, the city’s top doctor said Thursday.
“We have seen lower vaccination uptake in the same neighborhoods over time,” acting medical officer of health Alex Summers said.
“Our objective is to really make sure that the vaccine is close to home in neighborhoods where clearly folks have not had as easy a time getting vaccinated as others.”
While the clinics have pediatric doses for kids five to 11 years old, the sites are meant to serve people 12 and older in the surrounding community as well, Summers said. No appointment is necessary for the clinics, most of which will run from 4 pm to 7:30 pm
Wilfrid Jury elementary school is in N6G, a London postal code near the middle of the pack on first and second dose vaccine uptake, according to provincial data compiled by ICES, a non-profit medical research group.
About 85 per cent of the total population in the postal zone – which includes parts of the Masonville, Sunningdale and White Hills neighborhoods – have at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, while about 78 per cent have two.
N5Z, a southeast London postal code that covers the Pond Mills, Glen Cairn and Chelsea Green neighbourhoods, is the lowest in the city on first and second dose uptake at 75 per cent and 70 per cent respectively. The health unit has a pop-up clinic scheduled at Glen Cairn elementary school on Feb. 16.
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The postal code with the highest COVID-19 vaccine uptake is N6A. The zone, which covers parts of Old North and Richmond Row, has a double-dose rate of 93 per cent.
Many factors contribute to the geographic disparities in London’s COVID-19 vaccine coverage, Summers said.
“There are neighborhoods where communities face more barriers to vaccination than others,” Summers said.
“Those barriers can be the competing demands of multiple jobs, challenges with transportation or language or with just finding an opportunity within the business and stress of a week to get to a mass vaccination clinic.”
Some of the postal codes where the pop-up clinics are located, such as N6E in the White Oaks and Westminster area, have first-dose vaccination rates in five to 11 year olds as low as 27 per cent, compared to 61 per cent in N6A.
Each mobile site can administer between 100 and 300 shots a day, depending on the set-up.
Mobile vaccination efforts in the late summer and fall targeting areas with lagging uptake were very successful, Summers said. Officials are hoping for a repeat with this latest push for boosters and pediatric doses.
“If we go out to a school and we fill up the full day, then you can be sure we’ll be back again in order to provide additional opportunities to people in those neighborhoods,” Summers said.
In London and Middlesex County, 90.2 per cent of people 12 and older have had two vaccine doses and 92.5 per cent have had at least one.
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The mass vaccination site at the Earl Nichols arena is open for walk-in appointments. The health unit is expecting it will be able to offer walk-in shots to people at the Western Fair District Agriplex and Caradoc community center in Mt. Brydges starting next week.
School COVID-19 vaccine clinics in London
No appointment necessary. Doses available for five to 11-year-olds and people 12 and older.
Jan. 31 – Wilfrid Jury elementary school, 950 Lawson Rd. from 4-7:30 p.m.
Feb. 7 – Bonaventure Meadows elementary school, 141 Bonaventure Dr. from 4-7:30 pm
Feb. 9 – White Oaks elementary school, 565 Bradley Ave. from 4-7:30 pm
Feb. 10 – Westmount elementary school, 1011 Viscount Rd. from 4-7:30 pm
Feb. 14 – Lord Elgin elementary school, 1100 Victoria Dr. from 4-7:30 pm
Feb. 16 – Glen Cairn elementary school, 53 Frontenac Rd. from 4-7:30 pm
Feb. 17 – Thames Academy, 1260 Dundas St. E from 4:30-8 pm
Feb. 21 – Sir Arthur Carty elementary school, 1655 Ernest Ave. from 1-6 pm
Feb. 23 – Catholic Central secondary school, 450 Dundas St. from 4-7:30 p.m.
Feb. 24 – Monseigneur-Bruyere Catholic Secondary School, 920 Huron St. from 4-7:30 pm