With eligibility having expanded on Monday for booster doses to those 50-years of age and older, the region saw 7,000 bookings through the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health booking portal on the first day.
This number does not include those who booked their COVID-19 booster shot through their health care provider or at a pharmacy.
The WDG Public Health system is booked nearly solid through the end of December, with nearly 2,000 appointments booked within hours of the booster shots becoming available.
According to the WDG Public Health dashboard, 2,083 third doses were administered on Monday.
“It’s great news, it’s people doing the right thing, it’s people getting the booster shot they need, it’s people extending their protection to themselves, the people around them and the community,” said Danny Williamson, communications specialist with WDG Public Health. “We’re thrilled at the progress, we’re thrilled at the uptake we encourage anyone who is eligible to really think hard about getting that booster dose booked as soon as they possibly can.”
The local public health unit is one of the few Public Health units in Ontario with its own booking system, which was favourable as reports of long delaying, sometimes spanning hours, in the provincial system appeared across social media platforms.
“I know a lot of the appointments are booked for December, but I do believe there are a lot available for January, so I think they’ve filled up really quickly for the next two weeks of December, but we should have good amounts of spacing for January,” said Williamson.
On Dec. 10 the province announced its expanded booster dose eligibility to all Ontarians 18 years of age and older. Eligibility to receive the booster is expected to begin on Jan. 4, 2022, with appointments to be booked approximately six months after receiving a second dose.
As Guelph boasts a high vaccination rate, Public Health said nothing is off the table when it comes to expanding clinics to ensure that needles are going in arms.
“As these get booked up we are certainly looking at adding additional capacity to make sure we are getting to these boosters as quick as possible,” said Williamson. “I don’t have anything specific on where we are looking at expanding capacity, but I do know kind of everything is on the table to make sure this is done as quickly as possible.”
