Hamilton COVID-19 vaccine clinics to allow walk-ins for first-dose seekers starting this week

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Published July 7, 2021 at 4:52 pm

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Starting this week, Hamilton’s COVID-19 vaccination clinics will start welcoming individuals looking for their first dose on a walk-in basis.

During Hamilton’s Board of Health meeting on Wednesday (July 7), public health services officials provided an update on the COVID-19 situation in Hamilton and offered some data on the rollout of vaccines.

The report noted that while the city continues to make progress in getting residents vaccinated, there are significant inequities in access to clinics and pop-ups giving out the shots across predominantly racialized and lower-income neighbourhoods across Hamilton.

In a series of slides, Jennifer Vickers-Manzin, the director of Healthy Families for the City of Hamilton, highlighted the disparities where some neighbourhoods, particularly in the East End remain close to 20 per cent below city-wide vaccination rates.

Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, Hamilton’s Chief Medical officer of Health, said that starting Thursday (July 8) in an effort to increase access, the City’s mass vaccination clinics will start welcoming people who are needing their first dose on a walk-in basis.

More mobile clinics courtesy Ontario Ministry of Health are expected to hit the streets of Hamilton in the coming days as well, and they too are likely to welcome walk-ins for first-dose seekers, Richardson said.

Public Health Services data, published on the City of Hamilton website, shows that as of Wednesday, 598,237 vaccines have been administered in Hamilton.

Approximately 74.6 per cent of eligible residents have received at least one dose while 46.5 per cent have been fully vaccinated.

According to an interactive map on the City’s website, those rates drop to 58.2 per cent have received one dose and 20.8 per cent fully vaccinated in the L8M area of Hamilton. The vaccination rates in L8L are 53 per cent and 16.9 per cent respectively.

Richardson said that more information on access to vaccinations and mobile clinics and Public Health Service’s efforts to engage members of the community who have not yet received a vaccination is expected in the coming days.

For more information on Hamilton’s vaccine rollout, to book an appointment or to find out where your nearest clinic is, visit the City’s website.

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