Waterloo Region is among several communities in Ontario that the provincial government is prioritizing for second doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
The province announced Thursday it would prioritize areas that are considered hot spots for the Delta variant, originally named B.1.617 and first identified in India.
Starting Monday, people living in Toronto, Peel, York, Halton, Waterloo, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph and Porcupine health units will be eligible for their second shot, if they got their first shot on or before May 9, according to documents released Thursday.
For those who received AstraZeneca, a second dose of the same vaccine or an mRNA (Pfizer or Moderna) can be chosen at a 12-week interval. The acceleration of a second-dose vaccine does not include those who received a first dose of AstraZeneca, even if they are in a high Delta variant hot spot, got their shot before May 9, and want to get Pfizer or Moderna.
The province said AstraZeneca allocation will expand to more regions in the coming weeks to mirror the initial rollout.
The news comes as Waterloo Region’s vaccine distribution task force had already begun to ramp up second doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
On Thursday, the agency reported it had provided 383,707 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, 7,158 more than a day earlier.
At the same time, it also reported that 36,469 people had now been fully vaccinated, 3,628 more than a day earlier.
More than 70 per cent (70.26) of adults in the area have now received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, a number that falls to 58.2 per cent when measured against the entire population.
–With files from Global News’ Gabby Rodrigues
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