Hundreds of people line up for the Peel Region 'Doses after dark' vaccination clinic in Mississauga, Ont. on May 15, 2021.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
Peel Public Health is bringing back its “Doses after dark” pop-up clinics for booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine to reach essential workers with staggered working hours, the region’s top doctor said on Wednesday.
Two clinics are planned for February, running from 1 p.m. until midnight.
Dr. Lawrence Loh, Peel’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, said the pop-up clinics are intended to help those who might have difficulty with finding child care or scheduling time for a whole family to come in. “The aim is to try to provide as much convenience as possible for people into those later evening hours,” he said.
The region now has enough doses of mRNA vaccines to give booster shots to everyone over the age of 18, he said. Last month, Dr. Loh made an appeal to younger people to hold off on booking their boosters to allow high-risk individuals to get their shots first.
The focus on booster shots comes as Peel region reached a 90-per-cent two-dose vaccination rate for all eligible residents on Wednesday. This is above the national average, which is just over 84 per cent.
A “Doses after dark” pop-up was held in Mississauga in May, 2021. More than 5,000 vaccine doses were administered over the course of the 32-hour vaccine marathon.
Dr. Loh said the region of Peel has 65-per-cent coverage for third doses for those aged 75 and up, and around 40-per-cent coverage for all eligible residents. According to a tracker being maintained by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, an independent non-profit, Peel is ahead of the provincial third-dose rate of 30 per cent.
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However, the city of Brampton is behind the rest of Peel. Brampton’s 10 postal codes have an average vaccination rate of 20 per cent. The lowest is 16 per cent in the postal codes beginning with L7A and the highest is 25 per cent in those starting with L6W.
The region is now shifting focus from prioritizing high-risk and elderly residents to encouraging everyone over the age of 18 to get their boosters as soon as possible. In Brampton, the average age of an essential worker is 35.
Dr. Andrew Boozary, a physician and the executive director of social medicine at the University Health Network, said essential workers have taken on a lot of the risk of the pandemic. He said that workers are willing to get vaccinated but that structural barriers have to be removed.
“We know that low-barrier clinics, such as ‘Doses after dark’ have helped. Providing hours and avenues to people have helped. But there needs to be a sustained investment in making sure that boosters reach vulnerable populations.”
A Peel Public Health spokesperson said that the “Doses After dark” pop-up is one pf the ways that the region is trying to make it as easy as possible for residents to get vaccinated. Other initiatives include drive-up clinics and well as those targeted at equity seeking-groups.
Dr. Boozary said, “We need to make it as easy as we can, by looking into things like free transportation. It doesn’t help to put the burden to get vaccinated only on essential workers. How many heartbreaking stories have we heard of workers coming back and unknowingly infecting grandparents in places like Brampton? We need to reach people.”
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Uday Rana