Region gives vaccine update, hits new one-day vaccination record
The Region of Waterloo says demand remains high for both first and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
On Wednesday, the region says it administered 9,535 doses which is a new one-day record.
The new single-day high comes as the region has three vaccination clinics, which have also started to take walk-ins.
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“Boardwalk and Health Sciences Centre reported they administered approximately 100 walk-ins on the first day which seems to be balancing those not showing up for appointments thus far,” said Deputy Police Chief Shirley Hilton, who is also leading Waterloo Region's vaccine task force.
Wednesday also marked the launch of the new self-serve option to book or re-book a vaccination appointment at a public clinic for those eligible and anyone aged 12 or older.
“This option opened at 9 a.m. and saw an immediate high demand to book an appointment,” said Hilton.
She said wait times have been seemingly unpredictable at times with many residents sitting in a virtual queue for hours, adding the region is working with the vendor to understand how those times are determined.
“More appointments were opened to the first week of August to assist with this demand, which did ease the wait-line by mid- to late that afternoon,” Hilton said. “I would encourage everyone to re-book their second appointment [and] to not be discouraged; more opportunities will open as we catch up on cancelling appointments, extending hours at clinics, and offering more appointments through further mobile pop-up options.”
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Hilton says locals searching for a second dose appointment should also check the 123 pharmacies administering vaccines across the Region.
“These are additional locations to check when looking for appointments and they will be receiving additional vaccine in the coming days,” she said.
Meantime, Hilton also discussed issues surrounding Rogers and Telus mobile customers who weren't receiving confirmation text messages for their new appointments.
“Rogers and Telus have reacted and made changes to ensure text messages from the vendor were not blocked and we believe this was rectified mid-afternoon yesterday,” said Hilton. “The vendor followed up last night and re-sent all blocked text messages to Rogers users and are still reviewing the logs to confirm successful sends.”
She says the region will be monitoring the issue to make sure those confirmation messages are going through properly.
