Standby List Now Available for End of Clinic Doses of COVID-19 Vaccine

Area residents can now add their names to a standby list for COVID-19 vaccine doses that may be available at the end of one of the local health unit’s immunization clinics.

Starting Monday, June 28, residents of Haliburton County, Northumberland County and the City of Kawartha Lakes can visit the website of the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit to register to potentially receive a vaccination at the end of a clinic day.

By providing their name and phone number, residents may receive a call to come to a clinic at the end of the day if there are vaccine doses remaining. This is not a booking tool. Participants will only be called if there are extra doses available.

“We know some of our residents are still looking to receive their first or second dose of vaccine, and we are hoping this standby list will provide another option for those individuals,” says Dr. Natalie Bocking, Medical Officer of Health for the HKPR District Health Unit. “There could be leftover doses for a variety of reasons. Our goal is to ensure that vaccine gets into someone’s arm rather than be wasted.”

To use the standby list, participants:

• must be a resident of Haliburton County, Northumberland County or the City of Kawartha Lakes

• must be able to attend the specified within 25 to 30 minutes of receiving a call

The standby list is open to anyone wishing to receive their first or second dose of vaccine. As of Monday June 28, anyone aged 18 and over in Ontario is eligible to receive their second dose of vaccine as long as the minimum interval outlined in the product monograph has passed (28 days for Moderna, 21 days for Pfizer).

How to Register:

• On the Health Unit’s website: www.hkpr.on.ca and visit the page: COVID-19 Vaccine – Standby List. • Between 8 am and noon, residents can click on the links provided to register for a clinic they can attend quickly. Standby lists may close before noon if the list is full.

• Residents will need to register each day they are available. Lists will be cleared daily to ensure they are current.

• Residents should register for only one region/clinic each day.

Health Unit clinics offer one of Health Canada’s approved mRNA vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna). These vaccines are interchangeable. The Health Unit will not identify in advance what vaccine will be offered at a clinic.

“As these end of clinic doses are not guaranteed, we still encourage our residents to continue to try to book an appointment through the provincial booking system, a local pharmacy or through their local family health teams or community health teams,” says Dr. Bocking. “As we see the province move into the next step of reopening, it’s important that everyone continues to ensure they get both doses of vaccine so they are fully protected.”