TORONTO

Starting Monday, Hamilton will begin vaccinating residents 85+ and York Region will allow residents 80+ to book appointment

Kayla Goodfield Multi-Platform Writer, CTV News Toronto

Published Friday, February 26, 2021 11:31AM EST Last Updated Sunday, February 28, 2021 9:40AM EST

A health-care worker prepares a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a UHN COVID-19 vaccine clinic in Toronto on Thursday, January 7, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

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TORONTO -- Starting Monday, Hamilton will begin vaccinating residents 85 years of age or older and York Region will allow residents 80 years of age or older to start booking appointments to receive their COVID-19 shot.

The two local public health units announced these updates to their immunization plans on Friday.

In a news release, Hamilton Public Health said they will be able to begin vaccinating those turning 85 years of age by the end of the year or older starting on March 1 at the St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton West 5th COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic.

The public health unit said those in that age category who have received care at a Hamilton hospital or a Hamilton hospital clinic over the past six months will be contacted with an appointment time starting on Friday.

Anyone in that age category who has not received care at one of those facilities over the past six months can register for an appointment by calling the public health unit’s COVID-19 hotline at 905-974-9848 and choosing option seven.

The public health unit said those 80 to 84 years of age will become eligible “over the coming weeks.”

In York Region, residents 80 years of age or older will be able to book an appointment for their COVID-19 vaccine beginning on Monday.

A notice was posted to York Region’s website on Friday and said “information will be posted on this page and shared on multiple communication channels once available.”

The website also urges residents of this age category and their caregivers to “please remain patient over the next couple of days as we finalize these booking details.”

No further details on the booking process have been released by the public health unit at this time.

On Thursday, Health Minister Christine Elliott said all of the province’s 34 local public health units will be able to vaccinate elderly residents ahead of Ontario’s timeline, but will have to use their own booking system until its web portal is ready.

Elliott added that the public health units will have to transition to the web portal once it’s launched on March 15.

Currently in Ontario, an expanded list of health-care workers are eligible to receive their COVID-19 vaccine. The list, as set by the Ontario government, includes those working in acute care and other hospital settings, community care with high-risk of exposure and serving specialized patients populations, other health-care services for Indigenous populations, and laboratory services.

Those workers, belonging to the province’s very high priority category, are able to check with their employer for instructions on how to access the vaccine.

Vaccine clinic locations in Hamilton and York Region

Officials in Hamilton said mobile sites will be setting up pop-up vaccination clinics at the following locations beginning March 3: