Hamilton’s COVID-19 vaccine clinic at FirstOntario Centre is set to offer walk-ins for second doses starting on Thursday, according to public health.
Beginning July 15 anyone aged 12 and up can get a second dose if it’s been 28 days since getting their first dose.
The clinic also continues to offer walk-ins for first doses, as well as booked first and second dose appointments.
Eight mobile pop-up clinics will also be offering walk-in second doses in the coming week with two, Bernie Morelli Recreation and Stoney Creek Recreation, starting tomorrow.
Dates and locations of all eight can be found on the city’s website.
Public health says the bulk of the clinics will have both the Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines on hand but could not say which people over 18 will receive.
“Depending on vaccine supply, there will be instances where our local vaccine clinics do not have both mRNA vaccines on offer for those 18 years of age and over,” the city told Global News in a statement.
“Regardless of what community members received for their first dose, mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are both excellent options for a second dose, and clients will be offered the vaccine that is available.”
Individuals aged 12 through 17 will receive the Pfizer vaccine at the clinics since it’s the only one of the two approved for use in Canada on the age group.
On Monday, Hamilton’s director of epidemiology and communicable disease control said the city is in a “pivotal” moment with a move to step three of the province’s reopening plan on Friday.
Michelle Baird said the more infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus still a “dark cloud on the horizon.”
Using Waterloo’s recent setback which held the region back from step two, due to a high number of cases reported by public health, Baird said moving up second doses is the best way to aid Hamilton in a move to step four.
“For those of us who have not booked their accelerated second dose yet, should immediately move your appointment forward,” Baird said.
The Ford government has said Ontario will stay in step three of the reopening plan for at least 21 days until 80 per cent of the population aged 12-plus have had at least a single dose and at least 70 per cent of any given health region’s population fully vaccinated with two shots.
Baird says the city has enough vaccines to complete the series of two shots for 75 per cent of the population over the age of 12 by the week of July 26.
75 per cent of Hamiltonians have at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine
As of Tuesday, public health is reporting close to 656,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the city overall.
Over 75 per cent of the city’s adult population (over 18) have received at least one shot of a vaccine while 55.4 percent have had two shots.
Just over 62.5 per cent of people under 30 in the city have had at least one shot of a COVID vaccine while close to 34 per cent have had a second dose.
Close to 62 per cent of those aged 12 to 17 have had an initial shot while 25 percent have had a second.
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Some central and east-end FSAs (forward sorting area codes) continue to see low vaccination rates as of Tuesday with an average of 58.2 per cent of the population in the five lowest vaccinated areas (L8R, L8L, L8M, L8H, and L8J) reporting at least one shot while an average of 27.73 per cent have second doses in those regions.
As of 8 p.m. on Tuesday, more than 17.4 million total COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered in Ontario.
There are more than 7.2 million people fully immunized with two doses in the province which is 58.4 per cent of the adult (18+) population. First dose adult coverage stands at 79.5 per cent.
Hamilton reports 4 new COVID-19 cases
Hamilton reported just four new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, and just under a hundred active cases in the city.
Of the 94 reported active cases, 64 per cent involve people under the age of 50. About 41 per cent of the cases are tied to people under 30 and just under 15 per cent involve people under 20.
The city’s test positivity rate is up week over week to 2.1 per cent compared to the 1.9 per cent reported last Wednesday. Ontario’s test positivity rate is 0.6 per cent as of July 14.
There are two ongoing outbreaks in Hamilton as of Wednesday at St. Joseph’s Village long-term care home (LTCH) and at a supermarket in Central Hamilton.
The outbreak at the LTCH involves four residents, four offsite workers and a visitor.
Local hospitals have a combined 24 COVID-19 patients as of Wednesday.
There are 14 at St. Joseph’s with 12 in intensive care (ICU) while Hamilton Health Sciences has 10 cases with just two people in ICU’s.
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