‘Slow down’ opened up COVID-19 vaccinations to Hamilton’s 60+, says EOC boss

Hamilton’s director of the emergency operations centre (EOC) says a “slow down” with COVID-19 vaccine bookings over the last few days contributed to the lowering of the city’s age of eligibility to 60 on Tuesday.

Paul Johnson said turnout from 70 and over, eligible for the shots as of last week, didn’t meet the city’s projections and is a reason the city reduced the vaccination threshold.

“Heading into last week when we went to the 70-plus crowd, we looked at the projections of who we felt would be booking, well, that booking didn’t happen to that same level,” said Johnson.

Ontario officially opens vaccinations up to 60 and older across the province on Wednesday. The move to 60 allows Hamilton to take bookings from another 70,000 eligible people.

Hamilton’s mass vaccination sites are currently operating at about one-third capacity due to limited supply, according to Johnson, and that there is still a “very high” percentage of people taking the city up on the opportunity.

However, the charge that was seen “out of the gate” with vaccinations in long term care, retirement homes and those in high risk settings is not as apparent in the recent phase of the city’s inoculations.

The city’s medical officer of health, Dr. Elizabeth Richardson revealed on Tuesday that clinics remove doses from freezers based on bookings and that unused portions are saved for the following day if not used.

“They know this is the gold essentially that they are handling,” said Richardson.

“So they’re very, very careful about it. They thaw much as they need and then utilize those doses as they go to absolutely minimize any sort of wastage.”

The EOC said a drop off was to be expected at some point and suggests anyone who’s not attending due to vaccine hesitancy should reach out to a health-care provider to see if the shot is the right thing to do.

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“So we really need to start talking not only about this whole supply issue and when the next group is going to be welcome, but we also need to talk about why people are choosing not to get the vaccine when they are eligible,” said Johnson.

During the province’s pandemic update on Tuesday, solicitor general Sylvia Jones addressed the Hamilton issue and said the lack of bookings in fact contributed to Ontario’s move to lower the age of eligibility in the city.

“It speaks to the importance of people working together to get those over 70 out. It does not mean that Hamilton has completed vaccinating their over 70s,” said Jones.

Johnson also conceded that when bookings open up to other eligible groups, the city typically does have issues with phone-in appointments since staff on that end is limited.

“We have usually between 1,000 and 2,000 calls come in on a regular day,” Johnson said.

“Whenever we open up a new eligibility group, that number always goes up.”

The EOC boss encourages callers to keep trying.

On Tuesday, Ontario expanded the second phase it’s vaccine rollout to target people aged 50 and older in COVID-19 hotspots.

Two Hamilton locations on the Mountain (postal codes: L9C and L8W) have been chosen.

The province also revealed on Tuesday that about 475,000 Ontarians, 75 and over, have not yet booked an appointment.

Hamilton reported 113,331 vaccine doses had been put into residents’ arms as of April 5. The clinic at Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) has administered the bulk of the shots, having jabbed about 54,000.

Around 25,000 shots have been given at the St. Joe’s site, 19,000 through the mobile clinics, close to 11,000 at the large site at First Ontario and 5,000 in primary care settings.

Around 19.4 per cent of the city’s population had received a vaccine as of the end of March, according to public health.

The city is expected to offer vaccination programs outside of the current age requirements to more vulnerable individuals soon. Specific windows for those in high risk congregate settings, adult living facilities, shelters and the urban indigenous population will be eligible.