The Grey Bruce Health Unit is getting lots of calls from 80+ clients wanting to know when and where they will get their COVID-19 vaccine and concerns they have not been contacted by a primary care provider.

We are working with all primary care providers in Grey Bruce to get dose counts and clinics organized.

Please do not call your healthcare provider to book an appointment. Please do not call Health Unit to book an appointment.

We continue to operate with limited vaccine supplies. A number of different clinic models will roll out this week in conjunction with primary care:

· for smaller practitioner-based clinics, the physician will call all the patients and will make arrangements to immunize. Public Health will provide data support.

· select larger Family Health Team clinics with larger numbers of patients will hold local physician led clinics. Public Health will provide data support.

· select community clinics will combine clients from a number of different physician practices for large numbers of clients. These will be organized by the practitioners with Public Health providing support with an immunizer and data entry.

Public Health will continue to work with practitioners to organize and support clinics over the next week. We will use the hub model and other community sites as practices identify needs for additional space. We will encourage physicians and Family Health Teams to combine/partner as it makes sense.

We anticipate fully opening larger community-based clinics when the province “goes live” with the online scheduling on March 15. Again, we can use the same model in offering these clinics in partnership with local physicians and volunteers.

For those without a primary care provider, a 1-800 number will be available to book whomever was not captured through the health care system. Please do not call Health Unit to book an appointment.

Be reassured that all eligible persons will be reached through a variety of communication channels.

Continue to watch local media for updates as the vaccine rolls out to different priority populations.

To stay up to date, please continue to visits the Public Health Unit’s website at: COVID-19 Vaccines (publichealthgreybruce.on.ca)

source: Grey Bruce Health Unit