Shelter residents and seniors over 85 soon to receive their COVID-19 vaccines
Hamilton will soon begin vaccinating residents in the city’s shelters as well as seniors 85 and older, just as it expanded its rollout to include community healthcare workers on Friday.
The news comes as the city reported rapid rises to COVID-19 cases in local shelters and a detention centre.
There was also a sharp rise in presumed cases of COVID variants reported on Friday.
Starting on Feb. 27, Hamilton’s mobile clinic will begin vaccinating staff and
residents in the city’s shelters, with pop-up mobile clinics set to bring vaccines to all of the city’s shelters by March 2.
Hamilton Health Sciences resumed administering first doses of the vaccine to health-care workers on Friday after a month-long lull due to shortages in supply.
Vaccine distribution was expanded to include health-care workers outside of hospital as well as workers in the shelter system through online bookings beginning on Feb. 24.
Registration for those vaccines is by appointment only. Eligible health-care workers can register at Hamilton.ca/ VaccineRegistration.
Hamilton seniors aged 85 and older will begin receiving vaccines starting March 1 at the clinic opening at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton’s West 5th campus. From March 3, there will be pop-up mobile clinics at several locations around the city.
The expanded rollout means Hamilton joins other local public health units vaccinating seniors about two weeks before the province’s plan to open an online portal to book appointments on March 15.
On Friday, presumed cases of COVID-19 variants in the city shot up to 37 from the 23 reported Thursday.
Those are cases that turned up in the screening done on all positive COVID-19 cases in Ontario, and have not yet been confirmed.
But the city’s medical officer of health said on Tuesday that almost all cases that screen positive for a variant end up being confirmed.
So far, Hamilton has one confirmed case of B.1.1.7, the variant which originated in the U.K. As of Feb. 25 at 3 p.m., there were 428 active cases in Hamilton, the highest since Feb. 9.
The city also reported 91 new cases and a new shelter outbreak.
The new outbreak was declared at Mary’s Place, a Good Shepherd women’s emergency shelter near Victoria Park, with two patron cases.
There are now eight outbreaks in the city’s shelters and drop-in centres supporting atrisk residents.
Cases in these outbreaks rose by 17 on Friday, to a total of 69, more than half of which are at the Salvation Army Booth Centre at 94 York Blvd.
The existing outbreak at Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre jumped by 19 cases, reaching 48.
Public health noted that Hamilton residents 85 years or older this calendar year who received care at a local hospital or hospital clinic in the past six months will be contacted for a vaccination appointment beginning on Friday.
Members in that age group who don’t fall into the above category can register for a vaccine by calling the public health vaccine hotline at 905-9749848, and selecting Option 7.
Public health will not ask for a resident’s health card, social insurance, credit card number or any form of payment when booking an appointment, the release added. Vaccines are free.
The city also announced residents 80 to 84 years old will be able to receive vaccines in “the coming weeks.”
Five pop-up vaccines clinics are to be set up across the city by Wednesday. The sites of those clinics are; Saltfleet Community Centre in Winona, the municipal service centre in Binbrook, the Rotary Club of Ancaster A.M., Dundas Lions Memorial Community Centre, and Harry Howell Arena in Waterdown.
All clinics are by appointment only.
Public health noted additional clinics in neighbourhoods impacted the most by COVID-19 would be announced in the coming days. The Spectator previously reported that the city’s most racialized neighbourhoods are in areas with the highest rates of COVID-19.
According to the city, 15,275 Hamilton residents are now fully vaccinated. By the end of day on Feb. 25, the city had administered 33,851 vaccine doses. Of those, 10,809 were through the mobile clinic and 23,042 through the HHS clinic in the North End.
Provincially, seniors aged 80 and over will become eligible to book vaccine appointments from March 15, followed by those 75 years and up as of April 15.
Next in line would be seniors 70 and up as of May 1, and those 65 and older on June 1.
Residents 60 and older should be able to book their shots beginning in July, depending on supply.