It’s been a little more than a week since Ontario youths aged 12-17 became eligible to book their first appointments for the Pfizer vaccine.
Starting this month, there will be youth-specific vaccination clinics at five mass immunization sites within the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit.
“The youth-specific clinics being posted through the provincial booking system during the weeks of June 14 and June 21,” medical officer of health Dr. Natalie Bocking said during her virtual media conference on Wednesday.
According to the health unit, there are 4,320 youth-only appointments available through clinics in all three regions served by the health unit.
Youths can also book appointments through pharmacies and primary health-care providers, the health unit stated in an email.
The youth-specific clinics are part of a strategy by the health unit to get more shots into arms for that age group during the summer.
“This will ensure they receive their first dose of vaccine to allow them to receive their second dose at least two weeks before school starts in September or the end of August,” Dr. Bocking said.
As for vaccine allocations, Dr. Bocking told reporters the health unit is receiving around 9,300 doses of Pfizer vaccine each week.
“We are still waiting for our allocations for July but we are expecting it to be larger amounts than we’ve previously seen,” Dr. Bocking added.
The health unit will find out its Moderna allocations later this week or early next week.
Dr. Bocking said how many vaccines will be in the next shipment and when it will arrive are still unknown.
All available vaccination appointments until June 28 are now on the provincial booking system.