Kanata North COVID-19 Update May 10  

Good evening Kanata North, 

Ottawa is close to having half of our eligible population vaccinated.  We are making great progress. I’m pleased to share that starting tomorrow, May 11 at 8:00 AM, residents who cannot work from home in the Group 2 category of essential workers are eligible to book their COVID-19 vaccines. This Thursday at 8:00 AM, residents age 40 and older (born in or before 1981) will be eligible to book a vaccine at community clinics through the provincial booking system. While this news of increased vaccine distribution is very positive, we still must be cautious of COVID-19 and its variants spreading in our community.  

According to the Ottawa Public Health Daily COVID-19 Dashboard, 779 new COVID-19 cases have been reported in our community in the last 7 days, with a total of 1, 374 active cases. We must continue to follow the public health measures that keep us safe from COVID-19 and its variants: Get tested if you show symptoms, stay home if you are sick, wash your hands, wear a mask, and maintain physical distancing from those outside your household. 

If you’re eligible, and you have the opportunity, please don’t delay booking a vaccination appointment, regardless of which vaccine is made available to you. If you have already received a vaccine, it will take some time for your body to build immunity. Residents cannot assume that if they have been vaccinated, they will be protected right away. Please continue to exercise caution and good judgement after you have been vaccinated.  

Expanding Provincial Booking Eligibility in May  

The Provincial Government has announced that vaccination is accelerating this month. The timeline for vaccine booking eligibility from the Province is tentative based on actual supply. Here’s the projected expansion of booking eligibility throughout the month of May.  

  • Week of May 10: 40 and older (booking starts on May 13 at 8:00 AM) 
  • Week of May 17: 30 and older  
  • Week of May 24: 18 and older   

Vaccination of Group 2 Essential Workers  

The province is making the push to vaccinate many of our unvaccinated essential workers this week, by vaccinating residents in the Group 2 category of essential workers. To learn more about this demographic please visit the Province’s website.  

Group 2 Essential Workers include:  

  • Essential and critical retail workers (including grocery, foodbank, pharmacy, ServiceOntario, ServiceCanada, Passport Canada, wholesalers and general goods, restaurant, LCBO workers) 
  • Workers in manufacturing industries directly involved in supporting the COVID-19 response, construction (including infrastructure) and other essential businesses and services where facilities are at heightened risk for COVID-19. 
  • Social workers and social services staff who provide in-person client services (including youth justice workers, Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program case workers) 
  • Courts and justice system workers (including probation and parole workers) 
  • Transportation, warehousing and distribution workers (including public transit workers, truck drivers supporting essential services, marine and rail cargo and maintenance, highway maintenance) 
  • Electricity (including system operations, generation, transmission, distribution and storage workers) 
  • Communications infrastructure workers (including cellular, satellite, landline, internet, public safety radio) 
  • Water and wastewater management workers 
  • Financial services workers (bank branch staff) 
  • Veterinarians and veterinary teams 
  • Waste management workers 
  • Oil and petroleum workers (including petroleum refineries, crude oil and petroleum storage, transmission and distribution, retail sale of fuel) 
  • Natural gas and propane gas workers (including compression, storage, transmission and distribution of natural gas and propane) 
  • Mine workers (including those needed to ensure the continued operation of active mines) 
  • Uranium processing workers (those working in the refining and conversion of uranium and fabrication of fuel for nuclear power plants) 

Vaccine Distribution to Date  

Canada is set to begin receiving more vaccines, including more than 2 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine alone each week in May before increasing further in June. Due to this stable and reliable increase in vaccine supply, Ontario has announced plans to open appointments to everyone age 18 and over by some time during the week of May 24, as part of a revised anticipated schedule to expand COVID-vaccine booking eligibility over the next month. Presently the province is on track to administer a first dose to 65 per cent of Ontario adults by the end of May. For more detailed information, please refer to Ontario.ca. 

To date, vaccine inventory sits at 391,930 doses in Ottawa, 96% of these vaccines are scheduled to be administered. Where there is a leftover supply of vaccines at the end of the day, due to cancelled appointments or other reasons, clinic administrators offer them to front-line workers who have not yet received their first dose or pre-booked and pre-registered individuals, in accordance with the Province of Ontario’s plan and ethical framework to distribute the vaccine. Vaccine wastage in Ottawa has been very minimal and uncommon.   

This month, 52,550 vaccines have been delivered in Ottawa through the provincial clinic system, with more expected to be distributed. This figure does not include vaccines acquired through the Pharmacy system.  

429,135 total doses have been administered in Ottawa. 399,017 first doses have been administered, and 30,118 second doses have been administered. I’m also very pleased to say that nearly half of our eligible adult population (18+) has received their first dose at 46%; however, there’s still a long way to go, because so far only 37% of Ottawa’s entire population have received a first dose.  

With vaccines continuing to reach more residents, and a stable supply chain, restrictions may ease in the future.  Until then, please continue doing everything you can to reduce the spread of COVID-19. For the latest information on the push for community immunity in Ottawa, please visit OPH’s COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard. 

How to book a vaccine at a community clinic (50+ at the time of this update, 40+ at 8:00 AM May 13, 2021)  

Residents can book an appointment on the online provincial booking portal or by calling 1-833-943-3900. Residents can book online for appointments at the community vaccination clinics:   

  • Nepean Sportsplex, 1701 Woodroffe Avenue  
  • Ruddy Family YMCA-YWCA, 265 Centrum Boulevard  
  • Eva James Memorial Community Centre, 65 Stonehaven Drive 
  • City Hall, 110 Laurier Avenue West 
  • Queensway Carleton Hospital, 3045 Baseline Road  
  • St-Laurent Complex, 525 Côté Street – opening soon  
  • Horticulture Building, 1525 Princess Patricia Way – opening soon  
  • Canterbury Recreation Complex, 2185 Arch Street – opening soon  

How to book a vaccine at a pharmacy (40+)    

While supplies are limited, some pharmacies in Ottawa are providing AstraZeneca vaccinations to Ottawa residents age 40+. If you’re eligible for vaccination, please register ASAP regardless of which vaccine type is offered to you. Additional information as well as participating locations can be found on the Province of Ontario website.     

Kanata pharmacies participating in the program include:   

These vaccinations are separate from Ottawa Public Health and the City of Ottawa’s vaccination roll-out. Residents are asked to call participating pharmacies directly or the Province of Ontario Vaccination Information Line at 1-888-999-6488 if they have questions on the pharmacy vaccination program. Supplies are limited and appointments are booking quickly.   

Mass Immunization Methods in Ottawa Homes 

Door-to-Door (Airplane Model) 

The City is working with Community Health Centres and community housing partners to visit residential buildings in these high-risk neighbourhoods, going door-to-door and floor-to-floor, vaccinating residents right where they live. 

Mobile Vaccination Teams 

  • Mobile vaccination teams are providing vaccinations to congregate care settings, including high-risk shelters and homebound residents.  
  • Homebound residents: OPH is actively working with health partners including Community Health Centres (CHCs) to support in-home vaccination of homebound health-care recipients. Eligible recipients will be contacted to book an in-home vaccination. Currently, homebound health-care recipients are the only group eligible for in-home vaccination. Once vaccines have been provided to everyone in this group, OPH will work with its partners to identify other homebound residents.  

Health Canada Approves Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children 12 to 15 years of age 

Health Canada authorized the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in children 12 to 15 years of age. This is the first COVID-19 vaccine authorized in Canada for use in children and marks a significant milestone in Canada’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. More details are available on Health Canada’s website.  

 

While the future is looking a bit brighter in Ottawa, we must not lower our guard yet. I will continue to provide our community with more details as they become available. I thank you for your continued efforts to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and for your patience.  

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.  

Take care,
Jenna Sudds.