Province in East-Central Canada Ontario is Expecting AstraZeneca vaccine

Ontario residents who received their first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine between March 10 and March 19 became eligible on Monday to book an appointment for their second shot. Few people have expressed their frustration with a lack of availability of vaccine supply and appointment bookings.A spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Health said that around 100,000 people received their first dose of AstraZeneca during that time frame. There are approximately 55,000 doses in the province set to expire at the end of May.

Ontario Pharmacists Association CEO Justin Bates said approximately 31,000 doses are located in community pharmacies. Bates said that they started the planning process about seven days ago, working with the distributor to determine where all of the remaining 31,000 doses are located. They have received the vaccine, and are now undergoing quality assurance.

Public health is reviewing all the temperature logs, making sure that each of the doses that were recovered, will be redistributed, are still good, not spoiled. Many locations have been able to administer a minimum of 40 shots per day. Bates said that each of the Toronto locations will receive anywhere from 300 to 500 doses. The state has paused the usage of the viral-vector vaccine the week prior, the province greenlit the second dose on Friday.

The pharmacy announcement applies to Toronto, Kingston and Windsor, which were part of the initial rollout. Several primary care settings also received doses. Bates said approximately 120 pharmacies in Toronto are expected to receive doses of the vaccine. The pilot initially involved more than 325 pharmacies, offering the AstraZeneca vaccine to Ontario aged between 60 and 64.