Seniors 80 years and older in the North Bay Parry Sound District can book a COVID vaccine appointment starting Monday.
The region’s Medical Officer of Health Dr. Jim Chirico shared the news during Thursday’s weekly update.
The Health Unit’s COVID-19 Vaccine Public Health Nurse Lead, Scott Thibodeau then gave more details on the rollout.
“On Monday, March 15th the Ministry’s online appointment booking system and our local appointment booking call centre will go live,” Said Thibodeau. “Appointments for seniors 80 years of age or older will be the first ones available to book,”
He confirmed that dedicated clinics across the district for those 80 years of age and older will begin on Monday, March 22nd.
Thibodeau said more information will follow regarding specifics on the dedicated clinics over the next week. On accessibility concerns, Thibodeau said;
“One of the things that were doing it when planning these clinics is relying on our event planning staff and the other Municipal Partners who have an intimate knowledge of their buildings and their facilities and we’re leaning on them as well as Consulting with them to try to eliminate barriers, accessibility barriers in particularly for seniors,”
Thibodeau said how many people can be vaccinated a day is a function of the number of clinics that can be run concurrently throughout the district as well as how many Healthcare Providers can reasonably fit in the venue.
He also adds the health unit is considering having vaccination clinics in some of the region’s small rural communities.
“We are working with the hub communities nearest to those communities and looking at the numbers of the high-risk populations that we’re addressing and looking at the resources to be able to do so,” said Thibodeau.