KFL&A Public Health sees increase in COVID-19 vaccinations since certificate announced

Dr. Hugh Guan, associate medical officer of health for the KFL&A region, says Ontario’s new vaccine certificate has had a positive effect on local COVID-19 vaccination numbers.

Premier Doug Ford and members of his government announced on Wednesday that as of Sept. 22, Ontario residents will need to show proof of full vaccination (having received two doses at least 14 days before entry) along with a piece of photo ID in order to access several public indoor settings.

“Because of that announcement, we have seen actually an increase in first doses,” Guan said.

This mirrors what Minister of Health Christine Elliott said about vaccine rates across the province Thursday.

A spokesperson for Elliott said 3,479 appointments were booked through the Ontario COVID-19 vaccine booking system on Tuesday. On Wednesday (the day of the announcement), 7,125 appointments were booked.

Locally, Guan said just on Thursday, 565 people were vaccinated in KFL&A. About half of those vaccines were first doses which he said is unusual to see this late in the game.

“Usually we would see less than half of any doses to be first doses. So considering that a little less than half the doses (Thursday) were first doses, it really (suggests) the vaccine verification process, as well as the vaccine policies across numerous sectors including the health-care sector, does seem to be working,” Guan said.

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Vaccines saw a bump in general on Thursday, with the week prior seeing only about an average of 355 vaccines a day. Guan says this will help the region reach its goal of getting 90 per cent of the population fully vaccinated.

As of Friday, just under 78 per cent of the eligible population are fully vaccinated.

“Some of the recent modeling with the Delta variant shows that we kind of need 90 or higher in terms of vaccination rate,” Guan said.

He said modelling predicts that if the province doesn’t reach this rate by mid-October, case counts and ICU numbers could skyrocket.

“I’m urging everyone who hasn’t gotten vaccinated either with their first or second dose to please get vaccinated. There’s more than enough availability of any of the vaccines,” he said.

— With files from Global News’ Nick Westoll