Wellington Dufferin Guelph Public Health is set to close four mass vaccination clinics now that the majority of local residents are vaccinated.
Over 80 per cent of the eligible population in the region has had a first dose of the COVID vaccine and 64 per cent have had their second dose.
“Overall I think it's a resounding success,” said WDG Public Health spokesperson Danny Williamson.
“It's been a real all-hands-on-deck process. It's been people and organizations willing to put their space up, put their staff up and make this thing work so I think people should be really proud of the effort here in Guelph.”
As of Thursday morning, over 384,947 total doses have been administered in the region. WDG Public Health led clinics have administered 167,226 doses, making up over 43 per cent of local vaccinations. Partner-led clinic have administered 34 per cent of local vaccination doses whereas pharmacists have administered 18 per cent of vaccine doses and primary health care administered roughly five per cent.
University of Guelph’s mass vaccination clinic will close on Aug. 6, Linamar’s vaccination clinic will close on Aug. 11, and the clinics in West End Recreation Centre and Centre-Wellington Community Sportsplex will close on Aug. 20.
WDG Public Health and partners will continue to offer smaller clinics in Guelph, Fergus and Orangeville, as well as pop-up clinics throughout the region into the fall.
Williamson said it’s time to move to the next stage of closing the clinic because the mass vaccination clinics served their purpose.
“These mass clinics are really predicated on moving a lot of people through them,” said Williamson.
Williamson said the entire effort took tremendous man power from municipalities to maintenance staff to ensure thousands of vaccines were administered quickly and efficiently. He said the first time the region gave over a thousand doses in a week was late January.
With volunteers at clinics greeting community members and nurses and EMT’s, numerous people in the community were involved in putting needles in arms.
“You can see if you look at how our cases have come down as vaccinations have gone up, it really has been a success,” said Williamson.
“It honestly blows my mind, especially when you look at how this thing was coming together, how fast things happened. Like transforming municipal recreation centres or setting up a clinic at the Skyjack plant or at the University Centre at Guelph, just how fast these things came together and how much people moved heaven and earth and made this thing work.”
Williamson said for those who still need to get vaccinated, the easiest time would be while the mass vaccination clinics are still up.
“We run clinics every day, you know, they're built for people to just get in there and get out quickly. We just have the volume right now. We have a lot of appointments available and people can walk in now,” said Williamson.