The Ottawa area's weekly COVID-19 vaccination checkup: Dec. 16
Highlights:
How vaccines fit in your protection against Omicron.
Ontario third dose eligibility expands, with technical and capacity problems.
Ottawa is working to speed up its vaccine campaign.
Every Thursday, CBC Ottawa brings you this roundup of COVID-19 vaccination developments throughout the region. You can find more information through links at the bottom of the page.
There have been more than 3.9 million doses administered in the wider Ottawa-Gatineau region, more than 90,000 of them in the last week, which is more than the week before.
This checkup will go on hiatus for the holidays after next week's edition.
Provincial picture
The quickly spreading Omicron variant is taking hold in Ontario, replacing the Delta variant as the dominant coronavirus strain.
A leading member of its science table says third COVID-19 vaccine doses are important, but don't offer bulletproof protection and won't turn around spread on their own.
First and second doses offer some protection.
WATCH | The latest data about Pfizer's protection against Omicron:
Experts generally agree people should avoid travel and large groups and give themselves as much protection as they can if they choose to gather, including getting every vaccine dose they're eligible for.
Three of eastern Ontario's six health units go further and have again asked residents not to see people they don't live with in person.
WATCH | Rules of thumb for holiday gatherings:
Ontario expanded third dose eligibility to people in their 50s and 60s on Monday, which came with technical problems and some health units, including Ottawa, quickly running out of clinic spaces and asking people to check with pharmacies.
Premier Doug Ford announced on Wednesday everyone 18 and over will be able to book a booster shot three months after their second dose starting on Monday.
Among other changes in Ontario, children age 12 to 17 will need to show proof of vaccination for sports and recreation activities as of Dec. 20 — which some health units already require — with QR codes on all proof of vaccination and medical exemptions next month, plus the province is changing long-term care rules.
Its proof of vaccination program won't end next month as originally planned.
Health officials have so far detected a "limited number" of Omicron cases in Quebec, according to Health Minister Christian Dubé.
Eighty-eight per cent of Quebec residents age five and up have had at least one dose and 81 per cent are fully vaccinated.
About 85 per cent of Ontario residents born in 2016 and earlier have at least one vaccine dose, while about 81 per cent are fully vaccinated.
Ottawa
In a memo to city council on Wednesday, Medical Officer of Health Dr. Vera Etches said Ottawa Public Health (OPH) is reassigning employees and reaching out to qualified people to help it rapidly scale up its vaccination capacity.
OPH has released a list of after-school drop-in clinics for younger children. There are a few options every day until Dec. 23.
The capital still has regular and pop-up clinics for anyone eligible to get a first, second or third dose, as well as neighbourhood vaccine hubs, and it's bringing mobile vaccine clinics to workplaces who request it.
A pop-up clinic is coming to the Banff Avenue Community House on Saturday.
WATCH | Allergists hit with surge of vaccine exemption requests:
More than 1.8 million doses have now been given to Ottawa residents.
Of the city's total population of just over one million, 84 per cent of residents have had at least one dose, including 88 per cent of residents born in 2016 or earlier.
Seventy-eight per cent of the total population is fully vaccinated, as are 82 per cent of the population age five and older.
About 100,000 residents have had a third dose.
Western Quebec
CISSSO continues to list recurring, mobile and pop-up clinics online. People are urged to make an appointment through the online system, but there are a few walk-in options for first and second doses.
Walk-in appointments for children will be available Saturdays at the Palais des Congrès between 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Third doses are by appointment only.
The Outaouais has distributed nearly 644,000 doses — combined first, second and third — among a population of about 386,000.
Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington
The health unit is offering shots to younger kids and third doses at three main clinics by appointment only, with walk-ins for other kinds of shots on some days.
It shares the latest vaccination information online and on its social feeds.
Among them include an appointment-only clinic for recently eligible children at Kingston's Holy Cross Secondary School Thursday and a drive-thru third dose clinic by appointment only at Kingston's St. Lawrence College campus parking lot Saturday.
WATCH | A Q&A on the worst-case Omicron scenario:
About 89 per cent of its population age five and older has at least one vaccine dose and about 83 per cent of that group is fully vaccinated.
The region has had more than 372,000 vaccine doses — combined first, second and third — given to residents.
More than 45 per cent of the region's approximately 13,000 recently eligible children have been vaccinated. More than 26,000 residents have had a third dose.
Eastern Ontario Health Unit
The EOHU is accepting walk-ins for recently eligible children at certain clinics, on top of the appointments being offered at provincial clinics. Appointments are still preferred.
Details for its vaccine clinics are regularly shared on its website and social media. It prefers people try a pharmacy or family doctor for their third dose before a community clinic.
Among the options for the coming weeks are clinics in Winchester Monday and Hawkesbury Tuesday afternoon.
More than 357,000 vaccine doses have been administered, including more than 16,000 third doses.
About 85 per cent of residents five and older are partially vaccinated, including about 28 per cent of its five-to-11 population, and about 80 per cent are fully vaccinated.
Leeds, Grenville and Lanark
Because of the new demand from children and those seeking a third dose, the health unit is not offering walk-in vaccinations at this time.
Clinic locations and hours are listed online and on social media; space for walk-ins may open up from time to time and they'll share it online if it does.
There will be clinics for younger people in Brockville and Smiths Falls this weekend. Parents who qualify for a dose can get vaccinated at the same time as their child.
The health unit has given more than 322,000 doses to residents, which now includes about 16,600 third doses.
It is seeing 90 per cent of its population age five and up with at least one dose and about 87 per cent of those residents have at least two doses.
About 35 per cent of its children born between 2010 and 2016, or 3,650 of these kids, have had a first dose.
Hastings Prince Edward
Appointments in Belleville and Picton are by appointment only. Bancroft's vaccinations are being handled by the local health team.
Other options are listed on the health unit's website.
About 286,000 doses have been administered to this area's residents, including about 17,000 third doses.
Eighty-five per cent of the local population age five and older has had at least has a first dose, including about 3,600 doses for kids age five to 11. Seventy-eight per cent of eligible residents are fully vaccinated.
Renfrew County
The health unit regularly shares pop-up and walk-in clinic information online.
Renfrew County's health unit has distributed nearly 167,000 doses.
Ninety per cent of its population above age 12, including military at Garrison Petawawa, have at least a first dose and about 87 per cent are fully vaccinated. Younger children aren't yet included in this data.
About 1,500 recently eligible children have been vaccinated and another 1,000 had an appointment, the health unit said in a news release Monday, which is less than half the approximately 6,000 children in this age group.
Vaccinating these kids can help avoid isolation and potential trips to CHEO, eastern Ontario's children's hospital in Ottawa, it said.
