Those who fall in the age group of 60 to 64 will soon be able to receive the COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine at primary care and community sites in Simcoe County and Muskoka, the Ontario government announced Wednesday.
The initiative will begin locally, as well as in Peterborough, Peel Region, Guelph, Hamilton and Toronto on Saturday, March 13.
The province said it’s working with primary care providers to offer vaccines at places like doctors’ offices in collaboration with local public health units.
Primary care providers won’t be taking appointments by request but will be contacting eligible Ontarians aged 60 to 64 to book an appointment starting Wednesday. The government said only the AstraZeneca vaccine will be offered through the program at this time.
“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,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in a statement Wednesday.
“We have a plan to get vaccines into arms as quickly as possible in order to keep people safe and we will do that as long as we have a steady supply from the federal government.”
The Ontario government is preparing to move into the second phase of its vaccine plan in April, which focuses on immunizing people based on age and risk.
More than 120 mass vaccine clinics are slated to open across the province this month, which is in addition to the sites that are already open, increasing Ontario’s vaccine administration capacity to more than 150,000 doses per day, depending on the supply.
“Rolling out the pilot with pharmacy and primary care providers will enable us to prepare and refine our mass vaccine distribution plan for the months ahead,” said retired general Rick Hillier, who is heading Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution task force.
The province will launch an online booking system and a provincial customer service desk on March 15.
On Wednesday, pharmacies in Toronto, Kingston and Windsor-Essex started booking appointments for people age 60 to 64 to receive the coronavirus AstraZeneca vaccine.