Demand rises for COVID-19 vaccine booster doses in Windsor-Essex

Despite the official expansion of eligibility for COVID-19 vaccine booster shots not happening until Monday, Windsor-Essex adult residents have been hunting for their third dose.

On Saturday morning, a crowd gathered at a pop-up vaccination clinic in Amherstburg offering the booster to “anyone 18+” with three months since their second dose.

The clinic — organized by the pharmacy at the Shoppers Drug Mart location at 199 Sandwich St. South in Amherstburg — started at 8 a.m. and was scheduled to operate until 3 p.m., with no registration necessary.

However, limited availability of doses meant the clinic was expected to run out of supply well before the afternoon.

By 11 a.m., despite freezing rain, the lineup of vaccine seekers extended around the building.

Noah Gascon, founder of the Windsor Vax Finders ( @WindsorVax ) Twitter account, wrote that the account is “committed to informing the general public of various booster vaccination opportunities in the coming weeks.”

“Please reach out to your loved ones and help them book  their vaccination appointments once they are eligible,” Gascon wrote.

“We had a successful mass vaccination campaign before, and we can do it again! If there is any community that can get this done, it’s Windsor-Essex.”

In response to surging COVID-19 case rates across the province and fears of worse to come due to the Omicron variant, Premier Doug Ford announced last week that all Ontarians ages 18 and older who received their second doses at least three months ago will be able to book appointments for third doses starting Monday, Dec. 20.

Ford’s announcement expanded adult eligibility for third doses weeks sooner than originally scheduled, and cut the original waiting time between doses by half.

In a statement on Saturday, the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit announced a “ramping up” of local COVID-19 vaccination efforts, such as extended hours of operation and increased staffing at the mass vaccination site at the Devonshire Mall.

New vaccination sites in Leamington and in Windsor’s west end are in development and are hoped to begin operating in early January.

There will also be additional pop-up clinics in “high-priority neighbourhoods.”

“The urgency to boost our community’s immunity has never been higher,” the health unit stated.

“Please be patient as we work together to increase access across our region for vaccination.”

But are there enough doses in the region to meet immediate demand? According to the health unit, measures are already being taken “due to the current availability of mRNA vaccines across the province.”

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On Saturday, under the direction of Windsor Regional Hospital and the health unit, the mass vaccination site at the Devonshire Mall began limiting Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna doses to age categories.

“For those under the age of 30, based on approved usage and preferential dosing recommendations, the Pfizer vaccine will be administered,” the health unit stated.

“For those 30 years of age and older, for which there is no preferential dose, the Moderna vaccine will be administered.”

For more information on COVID-19 vaccination in Windsor-Essex, including booking an appointment for a third dose, visit WEVax.ca .