It will take ‘weeks to months’ to get third doses to all eligible Hamiltonians, says top doc

Hamilton’s medical officer of health says despite a quick pivot to ramp up COVID-19 vaccine capacity to get in more third-dose inoculations, the process is going to take a while.

About 320,000 Hamiltonians will be cleared for their third shots on Monday when the Ford government opens up boosters for anyone aged 18 or over who wants one.

With such a large number to address, Dr. Elizabeth Richardson says it’s going to take some time since there’s simply “not enough hours in the day” to expedite a large program.

“That’s going to be very difficult for us to do, as we go forward, in a timely way. We’ll get it done, but it’s going to take weeks to months. It’s not going to happen between now and the end of the holidays,” Richardson told 900 CHML’s Good Morning Hamilton.

Through city clinics and its other health partners including pharmacy’s, public health says about 4,700 doses per day are currently being administered in Hamilton as of Thursday.

Under new initiatives, the city is hoping to hit as many as 10,000 shots a day within the next few weeks.

The top doc says manpower will also be an issue in terms of finding enough city staff to facilitate the number of clinics needed within a system she says is “very much under stress.”

“I think you’ve heard that from Hamilton Health Sciences and St. Joseph’s Hospital, in terms of the number of people who are in hospital already now,” said Richardson.

2:12 Efforts to limit spread of Omicron over holiday season in Ontario

• Efforts to limit spread of Omicron over holiday season in Ontario
• Small businesses brace for further restrictions and capacity limits
• ‘We have to go see our families’: Travel advisory frustrates pandemic-fatigued Canadians
• Ontario distributing free take-home rapid COVID tests over holidays
• Ontario modelling warns of substantial growth in Omicron cases

Previous Video

Next Video

“The degree to which all of our health human resources have been very much stressed and they’re now very much burnt out as a result of what we’ve experienced.”

On Thursday, the city announced the closing of a number of recreation centres, arenas, museums, seniors centres and clubs with the idea of not only eliminating potential high contact settings but utilizing city staffers for the vaccine program and contact tracing.

As of Friday, walk-in vaccinations are still available at the Limeridge Mall clinic, The Braley Centre and Centre on Barton for first and second doses for those aged 12-plus.

However, children ages five to 11, as well as those over 50 seeking a third shot still must book an appointment.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger says he anticipates that there will be a “first crush” come Monday of Hamiltonians trying to book an appointment with a city clinic when the VERTO portal opens up to boosters for 18-plus.

“Pharmacies will take direct phone calls from individuals, so I was able to get my vaccination booster by phoning a pharmacy directly and just making an appointment,” Eisenberger told 900 CHML’s Bill Kelly Show.

“That’s also available to folks in the broader community, so avail yourself to all of those resources.”

The province reported close to 3,100 COVID cases on Friday, double what was seen the previous Friday.

Hamilton revealed it had 91 of those cases with it’s seven-day average topping 71 cases per day, a number not seen since Sept. 2 when the city recorded a weekly average of 74.

The province’s science table modelling released Thursday suggested cases could hit up to 10,000 per day by Christmas without “prompt intervention” amid a surge from the Omicron variant.

“This will likely be the hardest wave of the pandemic,” said Dr. Adalsteinn Brown, co-chair for Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, at a press conference Thursday.

Richardson says although health-care partners are doing all they can to stem the tide with vaccinations, ultimately the community needs to make changes to reduce the spread.

“We’re asking workplaces to have people work from home as much as possible, talking about social gatherings … and reducing our contacts. You heard from Dr. Brown – that’s the most important part,” Richardson said.

In terms of potential closures and restrictions in Hamilton, the mayor says spread of the virus will dictate that, and he believes a lot of decisions will likely be left in the hands of the local public health units in Ontario.

“I’m the last person that wants a lockdown. Like everyone else, don’t want it,” said Eisenberger. “But you know what … the potential of having this virus overrun the entire system is very real, and we have to take steps to be able to manage that.”

In recent days, Ontarians have flocked to distribution points set out by the Ford government to pick up free COVID-19 rapid antigen tests.

Long lines have been reported at several of the pop-up locations across the province leading to exhaustion of kits in just a couple of hours at the GO-VAXX bus stop at Dundurn Castle Thursday.

The city’s MOH says Hamiltonians are just going to have to be patient with that as Ontario tries to hammer out a fair distribution process for the estimated two million kits currently available.

“I think the province … is looking to get the rapid antigen tests out there as much as they possibly can, but they’re faced with a situation where they’re trying to do that as quickly as possible,” said Richardson.

There are no further pop-up locations scheduled in Hamilton as of Friday afternoon, however, in the coming days, residents will have an opportunity to get kits at several LCBO locations while supplies last.

They include:

• LCBO at Barton & Kenilworth (Centre Mall)
• LCBO at Upper James & Fennell
• Guelph Line & Upper Middle Road (Burlington)
• Appleby Line & New Street (Burlington)

A full list of pop-up locations and hours of operations for the next few days can be found on ontario.ca.

Ontarians can also purchase a rapid test at select pharmacies, such as Shoppers Drug Mart, however, these come at a price of $40 and will be administered by a pharmacist.

Public health reported 91 new COVID-19 cases on Friday and another day over day bump in its seven-day average number of cases.

As of Dec. 17, the average number of cases per day is 71, up from the 62 reported on Thursday and the highest since Sept. 2.

Active cases did drop between Thursday and Friday, moving to 560 from 604.

Close to 79 per cent of active cases are in people under the age of 50, while 43 per cent of infected individuals are under the age of 30.

The city is reporting 28 outbreaks tied to 85 total cases as of Dec. 17. Seventeen of the outbreaks are in city schools accounting for 52 total cases.

In the last 14 days, there have been 134 new COVID cases reported at the two public boards. Students account for 121 of those infections, with 83 cases among students and staff in elementary schools.

The city’s two hospital networks saw another slight decrease in COVID-19 patients overnight, moving to 25 on Friday from 27 on Thursday, with fewer than five in ICUs.

Last Friday, both St. Joe’s and Hamilton Health Sciences combined had 14 COVID patients.

Public health is still characterizing admissions as “low” with an average of less than one new entry per day.

Hamilton’s health partners administered close to 4,600 vaccine doses on Thursday, an estimated 88 per cent increase in shots compared with the same day a week ago when about 2,455 doses were given.

More than 24,000 doses have been administered over the past seven days which is up from the estimated 17,300 given out the seven days before.

As of Tuesday, 78.7 per cent of eligible Hamiltonians aged five and up have been fully vaccinated while 83.4 per cent have had at least a single dose.

Just over 85 per cent of residents aged 12-plus have had at a pair of shots, while about 88 per cent have had at least one.

The city is still behind the provincial average, which has 87.8 per cent fully vaccinated 12-plus, and 90.4 per cent with at least a single dose.

At least 90 per cent of those aged 60-plus in the city are fully vaccinated.

Excluding kids aged five to 11, Hamiltonians in the 18-24 age group represent the lowest vaccination rates of those eligible in the community at just over 77 per cent fully vaccinated.