Ontario lowers vaccine eligibility from 50 to 45 in COVID-19 hot spots
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The province has lowered the age eligibility for COVID-19 vaccines in hot spots, which include parts of Windsor-Essex.
As of Tuesday, those 45 and up (or turning 45 this year) can book an appointment at a mass vaccination clinic if they live in one of the designated hard-hit areas, the provincial government said in a media release.
In Windsor-Essex, there are seven postal codes that have been deemed COVID-19 hot spots: N8X, N8Y, N9A, N9B, N9C, N8H, N9Y.
As of early Tuesday morning, the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) website — where residents can book appointments — had not yet been updated to reflect any change in eligibility.
Across the region, the list of people who are eligible for vaccines has expanded in recent days and weeks.
Previously, those 50 and up who live in hot spots could book an appointment at one of the mass vaccination clinics, as well as those 60 and up outside of hot spot areas.
Adults 40 and up are eligible to receive their shots through the pharmacy vaccination program, along with several other populations including child-care workers and those with high-risk health conditions.
On Monday, WECHU CEO Theresa Marentette said that the health unit would be getting extra allotments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for the first two weeks in May, some of it to help deal with hot spot postal code areas within Windsor-Essex.
“It would be quite a bit, double what we are receiving right now,” she said at the health unit’s daily briefing.
She added that while the majority of the vaccine will be distributed through the mass vaccination sites, they are also looking at offering one or two pop-up clinics.
If you’re not eligible quite yet, just please be patient and we’ll get to you,” Marentette said.
Since the vaccine rollout began, 138,363 people in Windsor-Essex — or 31.6 per cent of the population — have received at least one dose.