Niagara Health to begin vaccinating hospital patients 80 years and older against COVID-19

In the coming days, Niagara Health will begin booking appointments to vaccinate patients who are 80 years of age and older and are currently admitted to a hospital bed or have been admitted and stayed overnight in the last six months. This will include patients at all sites of Niagara Health and at Hotel Dieu Shaver Health and Rehabilitation Centre.

“We are taking this interim measure, while Niagara Region Public Health completes planning for mass vaccination sites, to get vaccines into the arms of our community’s most vulnerable at the earliest opportunity,” said Linda Boich, Niagara Health Executive Vice President, Quality and Mental Health & Addictions, Executive Lead for Integrated Care and the Niagara Health COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic. “The 80+ age group is identified as a priority in the province’s vaccination guidelines, and our hospital team will reach out directly to these people by telephone to schedule their COVID-19 vaccination appointments.”

In addition to vaccinating the 80+ age group noted above, the Niagara Health clinic will continue to vaccinate healthcare workers. Thus far, a total of 16,660 vaccines have been administered at the clinic to patient-facing healthcare workers such as long-term care and retirement home workers, hospital staff and physicians, primary care providers, dentists and other specialists, as well as medical first responders (paramedics, police and firefighters).

A full list of eligible community healthcare workers is available here. Healthcare workers who do not provide direct patient care are not yet eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine.

Niagara Health’s clinic is located at the Seymour Hannah Sports & Entertainment Centre in west St. Catharines. All vaccinations are by appointment only and those eligible will be contacted directly to register for their appointments. We appreciate everyone’s understanding as we work as quickly as possible to vaccinate healthcare workers and other targeted high-risk groups based on guidance from the Ministry of Health. We will continue to provide regular updates on our website.

Niagara Region Public Health is coordinating the mass immunization plan for the general public, which is planned to begin in late March. For more information and updates, please visit their dedicated webpage: https://niagararegion.ca/health/covid-19/vaccination.aspx.