Hamilton’s medical officer of health is asking for patience, as the city responds to what she calls “intense demand” for COVID-19 booster shots.
Dr. Elizabeth Richardson says public health continues to scale up capacity, with 320,000 residents now eligible to receive third doses of vaccine.
“We’re working to expand up to 8,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses per day”, says Dr. Richardson, “we were at 6,000 doses on Friday.”
At 8,000 doses each day, she adds that it will take until the end of January to provide third doses to all of the city’s 320,000 eligible residents.
“We know it’s frustrating right now to book appointments,” says Dr. Richardson, “as we work through with strained resources.”
About 100 municipal employees have been redeployed to vaccination clinics, resulting in the temporary closure of more than a dozen arenas and recreation centres.
181 new cases of COVID-19 were reported Monday in Hamilton, as the number of active cases rose to 870 amid the spread of the Omicron variant. The city has recorded 508 new cases since Friday.
Local hospitalizations related to the virus remain steady, 28 in total, according to Hamilton Health Sciences and St. Joseph’s Healthcare.
Dr. Richardson cautions that public health is watching those numbers closely, since serious illness and hospitalization tends to “lag behind” the number of cases, adding that we’re still learning about the Omicron variant.
She says there are delays in notification to people who have tested positive for COVID-19.
To address the backlog, Dr. Richardson encourages anyone who is having symptoms to “stay home and isolate” to help slow the spread of the virus.
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