Vaccines ramp up in race against third wave

REGIONAL — Ontarians can expect a rapid ramp-up of vaccine supply in the next few weeks, ushering in the possibility for everyone in the province 18 years and older to have at least one dose in their arms by June.

According to the Ontario Health team, those 50-plus can book their vaccination appointments starting tomorrow — Thursday, May 6.

In addition, if you live in any of the hotspot postal codes, you were eligible to book a vaccination if you were 18 years or over starting Monday, May 3.

Those hotspot postal codes include N8H and N9Y — Leamington and Kingsville.

The ramp-up is part of a nationwide push to extinguish the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is sweeping across Canada and affecting regions that weren’t hit as hard in the first or second waves.

In this region, new case numbers have remained steady, which is a good sign that Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent are handling the third wave well so far.

Health officials announced on Friday that the general age eligibility for Ontarians will decrease over the next three weeks, and should allow all adults 18-plus to book a vaccine by the end of the month.

This comes as welcomed news for the portions of Ontario hit hardest by the variants of concern, as the race to herd immunity is coming down to the wire.

Statistics provided by the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) on Friday, painted a positive picture with regard to vaccinations in the region.

The percentages of Windsor-Essex residents vaccinated with at least one dose stood at 92.4 percent for 80-plus, 89.3 percent for 75-79, 81.9 per cent for 70-74, 79.1 per cent for 65-69, and 75 per cent for 60-64. With those age groups having such high percentages, WECHU hopes that the rest will rise accordingly.

In the 55-59 group, 45.8 per cent of residents have received at least one dose. That drops to 35.5 per cent for the 50-54 group, and down to 26.4 per cent for the 45- 49 group, 25.2 per cent for 40-44, and drops considerably for the groups under 40.