Ontarians 18 and older can now receive a COVID vaccine booster as the provincial booster expansion rollout began Monday, as long as it has been at least 84 days since they had their second shot.
While many Ontarians had to wait until 8:00 a.m. on Monday to book appointments, those booking through the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health portal were able to begin booking appointments on Friday for a dose to be administered on Monday, providing there was an open time slot.
As of noon on Monday, approximately 24,000 booster shots had ben booked appointments through the WDG Public health portal, according to a spokesperson from Public Health.
This does not include the number of booster shots that have been booked through other portals, such as primary caregivers, pharmacies and hospitals.
A spokesperson from WDG Public Health said just under 42,000 third doses have been administered up until the end of the day on Sunday.
Despite the number of early bookings, the system was overloaded on Monday as thousands of people scrambled to the WDG portal in an attempt to book a booster shot.
Just after 11:00 a.m on Monday, WDG Public Health posted a two-part Tweet on Twitter saying: "We are aware of issues with online booking this morning. Please be patient as we work to resolve this as soon as possible. While our vaccine booking helpline is booking appointments it is experiencing high call volumes. If you do not get through, please try again later. Please remember that you may also be able to get your booster dose from your primary care provider or a participating pharmacy. Thank you for your patience as we work to administer booster doses as quickly as possible to WDG residents."
Public Health also noted the helpline was experiencing high call volumes, limiting the number of people able to get through.
A statement from the Ministry of Health, said: "With the rapid expansion of boosters to all individuals aged 18 and older, we are making third doses available to approximately 10.5 million Ontarians. We are pleased to see so many people embrace the opportunity to ensure strong protection against the Omicron variant with over 125,000 appointments booked through the provincial booking system as of 10:00 a.m. today. This does not include the thousands of appointments booked through other channels that are using their own booking systems such as certain public health units, pharmacies, primary care and hospitals."
