News

Community Vaccine Update – March 31, 2021

Vaccine doses administered so far: 19,517

Number of people completely vaccinated:1,627

Status updates

• The Province of Ontario officially moves into Phase 2 of its vaccination rollout framework on April 1, 2021.
• As with Phase 1, Phase 2 is comprised of a number of smaller phases. See the proposed Phase 2 timeline/schedule provided by the Province.
• The Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit is currently booking adults 70 years of age and older.
• As of Thursday, April 1, the HNHU will begin vaccinating individuals with the Highest-Risk conditions and those living in Highest-Risk Congregate settings. This first portion of Phase 2 is estimated to take approximately 2 weeks. The HNHU will then begin to vaccinate individuals who are 65+ after these groups are completed, moving sequentially through groups from there.
• Once interested individuals with high-risk conditions have been vaccinated, the HNHU will then move to essential workers who cannot work from home. This is not expected to occur until AT LEAST the middle of May. Please do not call to book an appointment unless you have been specifically requested to do so and you fall within a group eligible to receive a vaccine. If you are not yet eligible, your request for an appointment will be denied.
• The Vaccination Hotline is receiving up to 1000 calls and emails per day. The Vaccination Team is working hard to return all calls and emails. Please do not leave multiple messages. Staff will return your message as quickly as possible.

Making an appointment

• Individuals 70 and above whose family doctors are located within Haldimand or Norfolk County are currently being contacted to book vaccine appointments.
• Individuals 70 and above who do not have a family physician and wish to receive the vaccine are encouraged to contact the vaccine line (519-427-5903 or [email protected]) and leave their name, age, and phone number to be booked for an appointment when one becomes available.
• Individuals aged 65-69 (born in the years 1952-1956) can now add their names to a wait-list for potential end of day appointments (due to cancellations, no-shows, etc). Lists of individuals aged 70+ will be exhausted first. Eligible individuals will only be contacted if there are available doses at end of day at the various clinic locations. The waitlist signup form is available at hnhu.org/vaccinewaitlist.
• Individuals with highest-risk health conditions should expect to be contacted by their family physician or the Health Unit in the coming week. If an individual with a highest-risk health condition does not have a local doctor, they may call or email the Vaccine Line ([email protected] or 519-427-5903) to identify themselves.

Note: Highest-risk health conditions were identified by the Province’s Ministry of Health and include: organ transplant recipients, stem cell transplant recipients, patients with neurological diseases that impact respiratory function, patients with hematological malignancies diagnosed in the last year, or individuals with kidney diseases and an eGFR reading of <30.

Full details about vaccine rollout in Haldimand and Norfolk counties is available on the Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit website.