Hamilton’s COVID-19 vaccine program shifting focus as over 250,000 third doses administered locally

HAMILTON, ON – As the number of people remaining to be vaccinated becomes smaller and the community’s management of COVID-19 continues to evolve, Hamilton’s COVID-19 vaccine program will be shifting focus to ensure protection is equally distributed across populations and the community.  In the coming weeks, long-term planning will be undertaken with our partners to support both our Last Mile Strategy, and the transition of the COVID-19 Vaccination Program towards a longer-term sustainable model.

Hamilton Healthcare Partners focus remains on:

• administering first and second doses to all eligible individuals ages 5+
• third and booster doses of vaccine to eligible populations
• administering fourth doses for eligible community members

In order to reallocate much needed resources within an extremely strained healthcare system, there are a number of changes underway to our clinics to support both clinical care by our partners and further reinforce the COVID-19 mobile pop-up channel to be effective and flexible:

• the St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, West 5th COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic will be closing as of end of business day on Friday, January 28, 2022
• this follows the closure of the Hamilton Health Sciences West End Healthcare Vaccination Clinic on January 17
• the Mountain Vaccine Clinic at Lime Ridge Mall, and the Centre on Barton Vaccine Clinic will have adjusted hours with adequate capacity to meet current demands for vaccination; appointments and walk-in options are available across vaccine clinics.

Hamilton Public Health Services mobile vaccine clinics are attending local retirement homes to administer fourth doses to residents and third doses to staff and mobile clinics will be increasing access to eligible populations in the coming weeks. Eligibility can be found at www.hamilton.ca/COVIDVaccines. Neighbourhood pharmacies will continue to be an important channel for eligible individuals of all ages to get vaccinated with nearly 25 per cent of all COVID-19 vaccines in Hamilton being administered by pharmacy partners.

In December, the expanded eligibility of third doses to 320,000 community members accounted for the most significant increase in eligibility we have seen to date in our COVID-19 vaccination campaign. Local physicians, nurses, pharmacists and non-clinical staff from a number of organizations, have brought the best of our community to light. Collectively, Hamilton Healthcare Partners quickly scaled up vaccination efforts and expanded Hamilton’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign in a concerted effort to sustain an extremely strained healthcare system for the benefit of us all.  During this period, vaccine doses administered increased from 2,500 doses to over 10,000 doses per day. The addition of several large-scale clinics, community-led clinics, primary care clinics, as well as Ministry of Health led GO-VAXX clinics and additional Hamilton Public Health Services mobile clinics assisted in the expansion during this period. As of end of day January 19, 2022 over a 250,000 third doses have been administered in Hamilton.

Learn about eligibility, available locations, hours of operation and how to book at www.hamilton.ca/GetYourVaccine.