Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Kingston Frontenac Lennox and Addington Public Health officially opened its first COVID-19 immunization clinic on Monday inside Kingston’s Invista Centre.
The launch of the clinic, located on a converted ice pad at 1350 Gardiners Road, marked a huge step towards achieving herd immunity for the region in the fight against COVID-19.
To mark the occasion, local media was invited to tour the facility just hours before the first injections were administered by KFLA Public Health staff. Immunizations are appointment only, limited to those in the first phase of the province’s vaccine roll out plan. As the months progress, more age brackets will have access to the vaccine.
Kingston’s Invista Centre will serve as one of KFLA Public Health’s COVID-19 vaccination clinics. Photo by Adam Prudhomme
“It is our plan that we should be able to immunize 3,000 people a day at this location, which is phenomenal,” said Dr. Kieran Moore, KFLA’s public officer of health. “It’s part of our integrated strategy to be able to provide the most immunization at any one time for our population, if the supply can be met.”
A similar clinic is slated to be opened at Greater Napanee’s Strathcona Paper Centre on March 15 followed shortly by smaller family and health clinics in Cloyne, Northbrook and Sharbot Lake, as well as Amherstview’s W.J. Henderson Area.
“It’s a great partnership of primary care providers and their nursing staff and administrative staff throughout the Napanee region,” Moore said of the soon to be launched Napanee site. “It’s led by Dr. Kim Morrison and Dr. Tom Touzel. We will be supporting them at the Strathcona banquet hall, if we have to move into an arena for a bigger space we will. We expect a minimum of 1,000 patients a day as we move forward with increased immunization and supply.”
Moore says once the Napanee location is up and running, the next step will be making the vaccination available at local pharmacies, with mobile clinics soon to follow.
“With that combination, we should be able to immunize 10,000 people a day, if we’re given enough vaccines,” Moore said.
Monday also marked the soft launch of Ontario’s online COVID-19 vaccine booking system. KFLA was one of a few select regions to be included in the pilot project. A small number of individuals and very high priority health care workers were emailed an invite to book an appointment. The booking is yet to become available to the general public.
“The main products that we’re working with right now within these types of clinics are Pfizer and Moderna, which are the mRNA vaccines,” added Moore. “They’re highly effective and a really good analysis in the real world on how well they actually reduce transmissions, reduce the burden of illness and reduce hospitalizations and I think we’ll eventually obviously see a reduction in death. We’re seeing that in countries like Israel. Very pleased with the safety profile of these two vaccines that will be delivered here…I would have no hesitancy to recommend it to anyone in our community and I’d be happy to receive either one of the vaccines myself, but I’m going to wait my turn.”
