More than 7,500 new COVID-19 vaccine appointments have been booked in recent days while a dedicated call center has fielded hundreds of calls, a Sarnia-area health unit spokesperson says.
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More than 7,500 new COVID-19 vaccine appointments have been booked in recent days while a dedicated call center has fielded hundreds of calls, a Sarnia-area health unit spokesperson says.
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“Our vaccine call center volumes have been high,” Kelly Francis said via email. “The call center completed approximately 500 calls on Monday.”
All Ontario adults became eligible for a booster shot Monday amid the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant. Lambton public health urged residents age 70 and older, who have been eligible to book booster shots for more than a month, to get their appointments secured before the majority of the local population joined the queue.
About 800 of the 7,500 new appointments booked between Friday and Monday were for the 70-plus crowd, Francis said.
The health unit also said it will be running a dedicated clinic for Sarnia-Lambton residents in that age group Wednesday in Forest. The clinic, accepting walk-ins, will run from 9:30 am to 4 pm at The Shores Recreation Center.
Amid the sped-up third-dose rollout, the health unit cautioned that expected delays in shipments of the Pfizer vaccine from the province has forced a shuffling of who will receive certain brands. Sarnia-Lambton residents between ages 12 and 29 will still receive Pfizer – while supplies last – but everyone 30 and older will be offered Moderna, the health unit said.
The change will be in effect until further notice, but the health unit added residents don’t need to cancel or change appointments as both mRNA vaccines are interchangeable for the 30-plus crowd.
A total of 15,889 booster shots have been administered locally as of Tuesday, the health unit reported. Public health, hospitals, doctors’ offices, pharmacies and pop-up clinics have combined for 212,895 total doses this year. Eighty per cent of local residents ages five and older have received at least one dose and 76 per cent were fully immunized.
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A total of 20 new local COVID-19 cases were also reported Tuesday by the health unit. Of the 4,703 cases since the pandemic began, 149 were active while 4,475 were resolved. The seven-day incidence rate of cases per 100,000 people in the region was 125.6. Ontario’s was 144.
The local death toll climbed one to 79, but it was the same person – a man in his 60s – Bluewater Health previously reported died in hospital, Francis confirmed.
The hospital was treating 14 COVID-positive patients in hospital Tuesday.
The health unit was also overseeing nine active outbreaks, including seven at unidentified local businesses that have popped up in the last week. The other two were at local schools dating back to Dec. 10.