The Ontario government has released a list of more than 325 pharmacies that will be administering Oxford-AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine in Toronto, Kingston and Windsor-Essex.
The provincial government said as of Friday, participating pharmacies will be offering the shot to eligible Ontarians aged 60 to 64, or born between 1957 and 1961, by appointment only.
With the arrival of 194,500 doses of the newly approved Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, pharmacies began booking appointments on Wednesday in the three local public health units participating in the pilot program: Toronto, Windsor-Essex, and Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington.
“We are about to achieve a major milestone in our battle against COVID-19, by the end of the day we expect to reach the one million mark for doses administered and continue to lead the country in vaccinations completed,” Premier Doug Ford said Wednesday afternoon.
“But we are just ramping up and mobilizing even more members of Team Ontario in our pharmacies and primary care settings.”
Appointments to be inoculated must be made in advanced and the government said those eligible can book here.
Here is a list of more than 325 pharmacies participating in administering COVID-19 vaccinations in Toronto, Kingston and Windsor-Essex:
The province also announced that it is working with primary care professionals to offer vaccinations in physician offices, community locations and primary care settings within local public health units such as Hamilton, Toronto, Guelph, Peterborough, Simcoe-Muskoka and Peel Region.
The initiative will begin on Saturday, March 13. However, primary care providers will not be taking appointments but will only be contacting eligible Ontarians aged 60 to 64 directly to tell them to book vaccination appointments. The government also said they will only be offering the AstraZeneca vaccine at this time.
“Opening up new channels to deliver the vaccine, through trusted health care partners like pharmacies and primary care providers, will enable us to reach even more people and we appreciate the effort to help make this happen,” Solicitor General Sylvia Jones said.
Ontario said Phase 1 of a three-phase plan is nearing completion and is moving into Phase 2.
As of 8 p.m. on Tuesday, the provincial government reported administering 978,797 COVID-19 vaccine doses, representing an increase of 35,264 in the last day. There are 279,204 people fully vaccinated with two doses.