Southlake Vaccination Centre reopens
The centre has resumed offering second doses of Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine following nine-day temporary closure.
Southlake’s Vaccination Centre reopened February 8, following a nine-day temporary closure. The centre will resume providing second doses of the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to long-term care home and high-risk retirement home staff and essential care providers, as well as hospital staff and physicians, in keeping with the Ontario Government’s vaccine implementation plan.
Similar to many other jurisdictions, Ontario has experienced a reduction in planned Pfizer vaccine shipments. As a result, a decision was recently made by the Vaccination Task Force led by General Hillier, in consultation with the Ministry and the Chief Medical Officer of Health, to postpone second-dose appointments for all who have received a first dose. The interval between first and second doses was extended to between 35 and 42 days.
This was done to ensure the most vulnerable residents in long-term care and high-risk retirement homes could be vaccinated.
On February 8, we discovered that our online booking system inadvertently permitted some people to schedule an appointment for a second dose outside of the 35-to-42-day window.
Given the we are currently only providing second doses according to the Ministry’s directive we have had to cancel and reschedule those appointments that fall outside of the 35-to-42-day window and in some cases have had turned people away from the vaccination centre.
We sincerely apologize to those who have had their appointment cancelled. We appreciate how frustrating this is for anyone impacted.
We are reviewing all scheduled appointments and are in the process of rescheduling those that need to be delayed further. We will reach out to those impacted directly at the email address they provided when they received their first vaccine dose to reschedule.
To date, more than 13,000 doses of the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine have been administered by the hospital and its partners.
Southlake began offering COVID-19 vaccination on December 23, 2021 and opened a large-scale Vaccination Centre in the Ray Twinney Recreation Complex on January 6, in partnership with The Regional Municipality of York and the Town of Newmarket.
The facility is capable of delivering up to 4,000 vaccinations per day and can scale up to 8,000 vaccinations per day once vaccine supply is widely available. Based in a hockey arena, this is a model that can be adapted almost anywhere hockey is played in Ontario.
The Centre is not providing vaccination to the general public at this time. Watch for future updates from the Ontario government regarding when this will be available. To learn more visit https://covid-19.ontario.ca/covid-19-vaccines-ontario.
Everyone is encouraged to continue adhering to public health measures. Please continue to wear a mask, clean your hands regularly and limit your contact with others to the absolute minimum.
