Ottawa residents aged 18 and up were largely shut out of COVID-19 booster shot bookings Monday, as the few available appointments in the city were snapped up early in the morning.
Ottawa Public Health tweeted at roughly 8:15 a.m. that all vaccine booster dose appointments in the city were fully booked, just 15 minutes after residents aged 18 and older across the province became eligible for their third doses.
Though the provincial booking system was meant to open for bookings at 8 a.m., some users reported being able to log on as early as midnight to book a shot.
OPH had warned earlier that weekend, however, that appointment availability would be scarce come Monday.
Dr. Vera Etches, Ottawa’s medical officer of health, said last week that a lack of available immunizers, not doses themselves, is constraining OPH’s ability to add appointment capacity.
The health unit has been recruiting nurses, physicians, paramedics and other health-care workers to join the mass vaccination campaign and has been able to add large blocks of appointments at various points through the holidays.
OPH added 15,000 appointments for boosters last Sunday evening. But those, too, were scooped up early Monday.