Vaccination of those 80 and older to start March 5
Seniors 80 and older living in several high-risk communities in Ottawa will be able to get vaccinated against COVID-19 at a pop-up clinic on March 5, councillors heard Wednesday morning.
Older adults and all adult recipients of chronic home care living in Ledbury, Herongate, Emerald Woods, Sawmill Creek, Ridgemont and Riverview — communities with higher rates of the coronavirus — will be able to get their first vaccine shots late next week.
The locations of the pop-up clinics will be announced on Monday, along with details about how people can book appointments. Ottawa's plan for targeted vaccination in high-risk communities will occur before the province rolls out its online booking system on March 15.
The city's general manager of emergency and protective services, Anthony Di Monte — who also heads the local vaccination task force — laid out the plan for vaccinating everyone from essential workers to the general public on Wednesday.
The province recently added those 80 and older to the first phase of people who get vaccinated.
The second phase of the vaccination program is set to begin in April, and will include older adults starting with those aged 75 to 79. It will also include people living in shelters, frontline essential workers, education staff and people with high-risk chronic conditions.
The general public will be vaccinated in phase three, which is supposed to start in August.
Roll-out dependent on supply
Vaccinations began in Ottawa on Dec. 15. By Feb. 5, all residents of the city's 28 long-term care homes had received their second doses of the vaccine. By Feb. 23, all residents of the 82 retirement homes in Ottawa had been offered their first vaccines.
Older Indigenous adults have also been offered vaccines at clinics at the Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health and the Akausivik Inuit Family Health Team.
Di Monte was clear that the demand for the vaccine would initially be far greater than the supply. The four community clinics for residents 80 and older aren't expected to be open until late March. When the supply warrants, seven clinics across the city will operate from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week, with the capacity to administer 10,976 doses per day.
