The staff and caregivers will need an invite to get the shot

The COVID-19 vaccination clinics in Wyoming, Point Edward and Forest will begin to open next week – but you will need an invitation to get in.

The Lambton Emergency Control Group heard Wednesday the three permanent sites will begin to vaccinate specific groups including long term care and retirement home staff and essential caregivers, but they will receive a personal invitation to get the much sought after vaccine.

At a news briefing yesterday, Lambton’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Sudit Ranade, said the vaccination teams would be “circulating to essential care givers and staff to make sure they get immunized because they were the very first priority identified by the province and at the time we immunized the residents, we did not have enough vaccine to immunize the staff and the essential care givers; now we do.”

That information directly contradicted what the premier said just minutes earlier at a news conference.

“Every resident and staff person in everyone of our long term care homes who wanted one (vaccine) has received one,” said Ford.

The province announced Wednesday those over 80 would start getting the vaccine March 15. A month later, those over 75 will be next in line. Those over 70 will be the first week in May and those over 65, the first week of June.

A province-wide hotline where people can book an appointment for their vaccine should be up and running March 15.

The Emergency Control group says in Lambton, the second doses of the vaccine will be given to long term care residents first. Only then will more of the people who are considered highest risk get access to the vaccine as public health opens up the immunization clinics to other priority groups. The details on the booking process still to come.

Ranade isn’t sure if the province’s online booking tool will be ready in time for use in Lambton.

“Right now, we’re not at the stage where we have enough vaccine to start delivering to the over 80s anyway. What we’re doing is using our existing network to try to get to to get to the people deemed eligible by the province,” Ranade adds.

“When they get the booking system working we’ll work with it to have that population access that.”