Registration for those over the age of 80 in Windsor-Essex to get their COVID-19 vaccine will open Thursday.
Seniors can register on the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit website here or call the hotline at 519-251-4072. They need to provide their name, address, health card number, and a number public health officials can call them back at to notify them when they can get their shot.
After that, recipients will be chosen at random to get their vaccination at either the WFCU Centre in Windsor starting on Monday or a week later at the Nature Fresh Farms Recreation Centre in Leamington.
The clinics will be open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
CEO Theresa Marentette said the health unit is vaccinating seniors over 80 first because age is a predictor of whether COVID-19 will cause serious illness or death.
"There are a lot of community people that are dying," she said after the health unit announced two more deaths on Thursday. A woman in her 80s is one of the victims. The other is a man in his 50s. "We want to be able to get it to those groups."
Medical Officer of Health Doctor Wajid Ahmed said they decided to pick names at random and not first-come, first-serve because it was more equitable. He also stressed everyone in that age group who wants a shot will get one.
So far, the health unit is only offering the vaccine to those seniors who can make their way to the clinic for their appointment. Walk-ins will not be accepted. Eventually, the health unit wants to vaccinate seniors where they live, but so far, but it is still formulating a plan.
Supply is one of two challenges facing public health officials. Marentette said the health unit has only been receiving small allotments of the vaccine, about 2,000 doses a week, and some must be held back for the second dose. She only expects to vaccinate up to 200 people a day by the end of next week.
The second challenge is the health unit is using the Pfizer shot for now, which must be kept at very low temperatures. It is not feasible to transport it to people's homes.
Ahmed believes once Health Canada approves the AstraZeneca and the Johnson and Johnson vaccines, transportation and supply will become less an issue.
On Wednesday, the province announced it would open its portal for seniors to register, possibly creating confusion.
The rollout in Windsor-Essex is separate from the province's effort, and Marentette wants seniors to use the local registration exclusively until further notice. She anticipates there could be some confusion once the provincial portal opens on March 15.
"Right now, they're using our portal, and if we have to swap it out for the provincial one, we'll do that," she said.
The health unit reported another 34 local cases on Thursday. Of those, 12 are from close contact with a case public health officials are already tracking. Another 11 were picked up in the community, while five stem from one of the 12 ongoing outbreaks in the region. There are still six cases under investigation.
Meanwhile, the number of active cases continues to fall in Windsor-Essex. There are 260 now, with 47 people in the hospital.
Across Ontario, another 23 deaths and 1,138 cases were reported Thursday.
