Those born in 1981 or earlier now eligible for vaccine

REGIONAL — As the supply of COVID-19 vaccines filter their way down to local health units, the Ontario government has announced that anyone born in 1981 or earlier is now eligible to book their first shot.

The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit announced Monday morning that they had opened up booking for vaccines at Nature Fresh Farms Recreation Complex in Leamington, Libro Centre in Amherstburg and several locations in Windsor.

Many of the rest of Ontario’s Public Health regions will join the fray on Thursday, May 13, including Chatham-Kent (see page 11), which will offer vaccine appointments at the Bradley Centre.

In addition, the province has also announced that grocery store workers, restaurant workers and transportation workers are now eligible as part of the Group 2 workers who cannot work from home.

In Windsor-Essex, those 55 and over have now achieved over 60 per cent vaccinated with their first doses, with the highest total (93 percent) in the 80- plus category.

It’s expected that the numbers for the 40, 45 and 50 age groups will increase dramatically over the next two weeks.

Chatham-Kent does not provide those statistics on their website.

Visit Ontario.ca, wechu.org or ckhu.com for updates.