Officials still vaccinating priority groups only
Nov 06, 2009 - 01:35 PM
PICKERING -- An extra shipment of the H1N1 vaccine sent to the Durham Region Health Department has quashed fears that clinics will be forced to close.
The Province’s delivery means Durham’s five H1N1 vaccination clinics will remain open during their usual operating hours of 2 to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. All clinics will remain open on Remembrance Day.
“We’re pleased that an additional shipment of vaccine has been received, allowing our clinics to remain open,” said Dr. Robert Kyle, Durham Region Medical Officer of Health in a press release.
“We want to ensure that people in the priority population groups maintain access to the H1N1 vaccine and this new shipment will help us to continue vaccinating everyone in this group without disruption.”
All clinics are, for the time being, designated for priority population groups which are: people aged six months to 65 years with chronic medical conditions; pregnant women; healthy children from six months to under five years old; persons residing in remote and isolated settings or communities; health-care workers; and household contacts and care providers of people at high risk who cannot be immunized or who may not respond to vaccines.
To date, the health department has distributed 32,000 doses of the vaccine to local doctors’ offices and 5,000 to local hospitals. It has also vaccinated more than 32,000 people at its vaccine clinics.
The Region anticipated an additional 10,000 doses of vaccine would be processed for area health-care providers by the end of Friday.
This should help make it easier for the priority population groups to access the vaccine at various locations throughout Durham.
Durham’s five clinic sites are:
Whitby: 3050 Garden St., (Garden St. and Rossland Rd. E.)
Pickering Town Centre: 1355 Kingston Rd. (lower level near food court)
Bowmanville: 2849 Hwy, 2 (Hwy. 2 and Lambs Rd.)
Oshawa: 850 King St. W., Unit 26 (King St. W. and Thornton Rd.)
North Durham-Uxbridge: 2 Douglas Rd. (Toronto St. S. and Douglas Rd.).
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