Seniors anxious to get their booster shot before Christmas filled a COVID-19 clinic with 600 appointments in Forest in one hour this morning.

Lambton Public Health says 1,800 new appointments have been added over two weeks to help meet the demand for booster shots to protect people against the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

Today, public health is hosting a walk in clinic for those over 70 in Forest but by 10:30 am all of the spaces had been filled. People arriving were given appointment tickets for the 600 spaces.

Public health officials say extra appointments have been added in Point Edward. Public health has also moved a Dec. 30th clinic planned for the Rapids Family Health team to the Lambton College site so they could increase capacity at that clinic by a few hundred doses.

Public health says it is continuing to prioritize people over 70 for their third booster shot.

Almost 13,000 people in Lambton have already received the booster shot .

Meantime, Lambton reported 36 new cases of COVID-19 today – there are now 173 people ill with the virus.

In Ontario, 4,383 new cases have been reported today and 9 more deaths. Over 160 people are in the province’s intensive care units.