Residents 30 years of age and older and employees working in Group 2 priority fields can now book a vaccine appointment through the Windsor Essex County Health Unit booking system.
Medical Officer of Health Dr. Wajid Ahmed said the current supply and available human resources went into this decision.
“When we hear about a steadier supply of vaccines coming into our region we feel much more comfortable opening up more age categories. When we see that there are possible appointments that we can open up for additional groups that will allow them to book the vaccine quickly we do make that decision,” said Dr. Ahmed.
To date, 185,277 individuals or 54.4 per cent of adults in Windsor-Essex have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
“Every opportunity we get we try to open up more and more eligibility criteria to increase access and get everyone vaccinated,” said Dr. Ahmed.
Around, 22,000 doses were delivered in the region this week and another 17,000 are expected the week of May 17. To book an appointment or to see all of the local eligibility criteria visit wevax.ca.
On Wednesday morning, the health unit reported 46 new cases of COVID-19 in the region. Among the new infections, 19 are close contacts of confirmed cases, nine are community-acquired, and two are outbreak-related. Case and contact management nurses continue to investigate 16 of the new cases.
There are currently 330 active cases in the region and 170 of those have been identified as variants of concern.
