COVID-19: Second dose vaccination rates in Ottawa are just shy of 70%

Ottawa saw a significant drop off in daily COVID-19 vaccine shots towards the end of the week, with second-dose vaccination rates floating just below 70 per cent in the nation’s capital.

Ottawa Public Health says some 68 per cent of all eligible Ottawans aged 12 and older are vaccinated with both doses as of Friday, as are 69 per cent of adults in the city.

In total, 624,143 Ottawa residents have been given both doses, marking 59 per cent of the overall population.

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First-dose vaccination rates continue to hold steady at 83 per cent. The 18-to-39 age group continues to lag behind others, with 72-73 per cent of those in this age group having gotten at least a first dose. More than half of that demographic, meanwhile, have gotten second doses.

The rate of doses administered locally dropped drastically in the past two days as the city moved to consolidate its community vaccine clinics.

Just over 6,000 vaccine doses were administered in Ottawa on Wednesday and Thursday, according to OPH’s vaccination dashboard. That’s less than half the daily average of nearly 15,000 doses administered last week.

The head of Ottawa’s vaccine task force has said the slowing vaccination rates are part of the natural evolution of the city’s rollout strategy, which he said this week shifted from “mass vaccination” to a “more focused approach” that makes greater use of pop-up clinics and other targeted strategies to reach the unvaccinated.

All pop-up clinics in the city are open to anyone aged 12 and older to get a first or second shot as of Thursday.

The city also said this week that workplace, community and faith leaders can apply to have a mobile vaccine team come to their neighbourhood to increase access for those facing barriers to vaccination.

Any of the above groups can fill out a mobile clinic request form on OPH’s website to have a team come directly to their workplace or community to provide first or second doses to employees, neighbours or members of a faith congregation.

OPH meanwhile reported seven new cases of COVID-19 in the city on Friday.

With no newly resolved cases in the city since Thursday’s report, the number of active cases locally also rose by seven to 41.

The city’s weekly coronavirus positivity rate rose to 0.5 per cent from 0.2 per cent in the previous period.

No new deaths, hospitalizations or outbreaks were added in Friday’s report.

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