Less than a week after Ross Memorial Hospital announced it would be closing its drive-through clinic at the Lindsay Exhibition as of August 27, the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit has announced it will be closing its COVID-19 mass immunization clinics in Cobourg, Minden, Fenelon Falls, and Campbellford effective September 3.
“Instead of people coming to us for a vaccine at fixed clinic sites, we want to increase vaccine uptake and access by taking the vaccine into the community through mobile and pop-up clinics,” says medical officer of health Dr. Natalie Bocking in a media release issued on Wednesday afternoon (August 11).
The mobile and pop-up clinics will be offered in areas of the City of Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland County, and Haliburton County where vaccination rates are lower and where residents may have difficulty getting to a mass immunization clinic.
In recent weeks, as vaccination rates have increased, the health unit says the number of people attending the mass immunization clinics has fallen noticeably. This has led to the decision to redeploy health unit staff and resources so they can be used more effectively.
“The clinics have done wonderfully well, and we are extremely grateful to the many volunteers, service groups, organizations, and municipal partners with whom we worked in partnership,” Dr. Bocking says. “Without their support, the mass immunization clinics would not have been possible.”
Walk-ins and appointments will continue to be offered at the clinics in Cobourg, Minden, Fenelon Falls, and Campbellford until September 3, with both mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) available at these clinics. Dates, times, and locations for clinics are available on the health unit’s website at hkpr.on.ca/2021/07/30/vaccination-clinics/.
Many pharmacies as well as health care providers in the region also continue to offer COVID-19 vaccines.
As of August 9, almost 80 per cent of residents 12 years of age and older in Haliburton County, Northumberland County and the City of Kawartha Lakes have received at least one vaccine dose, with just over 71 per cent full vaccinated.
