TORONTO — Ontario’s doctors are asking for patience as they prepare to join the province’s vaccine rollout this weekend.
The province has said family doctors in six regions will begin administering the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot to patients between the ages of 60-64 starting tomorrow.
The president of the Ontario Medical Association says patients in those regions should not call their doctors to book an appointment, adding that physicians will call eligible patients directly.
Dr. Samantha Hill says calling to attempt to book an appointment could interfere with the operations of a family doctor’s office and keep someone else from receiving urgent care.
The province announced this week that some family doctors in Toronto, Peel Region, Hamilton, Guelph, Peterborough, and Simcoe-Muskoka will be administering the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot.
The government says a limited number of doses will be provided to family doctors during the pilot project – some 29,500 shots – but that could increase as more vaccine shipments arrive.
The family doctors’ vaccine effort is set to get underway as a different pilot project offering COVID-19 vaccine in pharmacies launched broadly Friday.
Pharmacies in Toronto, Windsor and Kingston health units are offering Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines to residents between the ages of 60 to 64.
Justin Bates of the Ontario Pharmacists’ Association said interest in the pilot has been overwhelming.
Individual pharmacies are using their own booking systems and Bates said people should check online before calling due to high call volumes.
Ontario reported 1,371 new cases of COVID-19 and 18 more deaths linked to the virus on Friday.
A total of 1,062,910 doses of vaccine have been administered in the province so far.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 12, 2021.
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