Exactly five months after it first opened, the COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the Evinrude Centre in Peterborough is closing.
Peterborough Public Health announced on Monday (August 16) it will be closing the clinic this week, and will instead begin offering pop-up clinics at locations throughout the city and county of Peterborough in August and September.
Walk-in vaccinations (no appointment needed) will be available at the Evinrude clinic from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Monday to Wednesday, with the final clinic running from 9 to 11 a.m. on Thursday (August 19). All Peterborough-area residents over the age of 12 who require a first or second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine are eligible for to receive their vaccine without an appointment.
The Evinrude Centre clinic first opened on March 19, 2021, providing first-dose vaccinations for Peterborough-area residents 80 years and older.
The vaccine clinic at Peterborough Regional Health Centre will also shut down this week, with walk-in and by-appointment vaccinations available from 8 to 11 a.m. on Tuesday and Thursday.
All future pop-up vaccination clinics offered by Peterborough Public Health will be walk-in only, with no appointment needed, so the provincial booking system will not be used.
Dates and locations for upcoming pop-up clinics will be available on the Peterborough Public Health website at peterboroughpublichealth.ca/walkin.
The Ontario government also announced on Monday it is requiring public health units and publicly funded school boards to work together to host vaccination clinics in or near schools, with clinics expected to run before school starts and during the first few weeks of school.
“Having vaccination clinics at our schools will make it more convenient for students to receive their vaccine in a familiar and comfortable environment and will help to ensure a safer and sustained reopening of our schools,” says Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, in a media release.
The clinics will provide first and second doses, on a voluntary basis and with informed consent, for eligible students as well as educators and school staff.
As of August 15, more than 69 per cent of youth aged 12 to 17 have received a first vaccine dose and 56 per cent have received a second dose.
