Another 6,000 vaccines are on the way to Lambton County as the shipments to Canada from Pfizer and Moderna ramp up again.

The province announced today there will be 550,000 of vaccines in Ontario this month and another 1.3 million in March.

Kevin Churchill, manager of family health at Lambton Public Health, says some will be heading this way as earlier as this week.

“The confirmed shipments expected between Feb. 22 and March 5 will allow for approximately 6,000 additional first doses to be given, which will be distributed across the priority groups. As more doses are confirmed, we will continue to move through the Phase 1 eligible groups,” he said in an email to The Independent.

That includes essential care givers and workers in long term care. Lambton’s medical officer of health says there are about 12,000 people who need to be vaccinated in the first phase.

Public health has plans for three permanent clinics; essential care givers and workers in long term care and high risk retirement homes and the highest priority health care workers will be offered their first doses the first week of March in Point Edward, Kimball Hall in Forest and the Wyoming Fairgrounds.

Hospital workers will receive the vaccine at a special clinic at Bluewater Health.

Public health says after that, others in the phase one group, including those over 80, will begin receiving the vaccine.

The province is setting up an online booking system as well which according to Churchill says people will be able to book into clinics in Lambton. They will also be able to book by phone.

The province says it wants multiple vaccination sites and it has 2,500 people volunteer to staff them.

In Lambton, Churchill says public health has “an additional pool of staff in place to schedule for both fixed site and mobile clinics, and our plans are to scale up using available public health staff as well as paramedics and some staff from Bluewater Health to support mobile teams. Additional staff needs are currently being considered.”