Hamilton’s COVID-19 mobile clinic begins vaccinating at high-risk long-term care, retirement homes

Hamilton began the rollout of its mobile vaccination program for residents at high-risk long-term care and retirement homes on Sunday.

In a release, public health said a mobile clinic pilot project began administering the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Idlewyld Manor on Sanatorium Road.

The home is in the midst of its third outbreak in the pandemic. The first was declared in May, followed by another in November which saw 25 positive cases before ending in late December. A woman in her late 90s died in the surge.

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The program is expected to expand in the next few days with the hope of vaccinating all long-term care home residents and those living in high-risk retirement homes in the city on Jan. 18.

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Public health says they are expecting an update from the Ministry of Health this week on the Moderna vaccine. It’s not known when that vaccine will be available in Hamilton.

A fixed-site vaccination clinic, jointly operated by Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) and St. Joe’s is underway and is open 12 hours a day, seven days a week, according to the city.

Last week, Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, the city’s medical officer of health, said roughly 250 people are being vaccinated each day at the local clinic, and the goal is to ramp that up to 1,000 per day by this week.

The clinic is vaccinating eligible priority groups. Walk-ins are not permitted.

Vaccinations for the general public are expected to become available in the winter and spring of 2021 with the expectations of the vaccine being offered to whoever wants it later this year.