'What a mess-up': Emotions run high as Newmarket vaccine centre booking glitch delays shots again

Southlake apologizes for mixup over Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines

Yorkregion.com
Feb. 10, 2021

It was a disappointing day for many people expecting to receive their second dose of COVID-19 vaccines on Feb. 8.

After being unexpectedly closed for nine days due to vaccine shortages, York Region’s mass vaccination centre at Ray Twinney reopened Monday morning, ready to provide second doses of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine to long-term-care and high-risk retirement home staff, essential care providers as well as hospital staff and physicians.

Hopeful recipients, whose appointments had been rescheduled due to the delay, arrived with sleeves rolled up -- only to be told they would have to put it off, yet again.

One man vented on a local community Facebook page, saying he went to the complex after the date and time were confirmed over the weekend, and again an hour before his scheduled time, and was reassured everything was on track -- but he and others were met by a nurse with different news.

Appointments set for that day were not being honoured because they were spacing out timelines further than they were first notified, he said.

“We stood in line (about 70 people) and were given another date for the second vaccine. What a mess-up by the government,” he said.

According to hospital spokesperson Matt Haggerty, the province directed Southlake Regional Health Centre to extend the interval between first and second doses between 35 and 42 days due to a reduction in Pfizer vaccine shipments. This would ensure the most vulnerable care home residents could be vaccinated.

On the morning of Feb. 8, officials discovered the hospital’s online booking system had inadvertently permitted some to schedule an appointment for a second dose outside of that window.

“We are currently only providing second doses according to the ministry’s directive and we have had to cancel those appointments that fall outside of the 35 to 42-day window and, in some cases, turned people away from the vaccination centre today,” he said in an email to yorkregion.com.

Lisa Wauchope of Newmarket works at a retirement home and she was one of those turned away.

She had expected the well-organized process she experienced getting her first dose Jan. 14, but this time around, “it was not pretty,” she said, describing angry people refusing to leave, slamming car doors and squealing tires out of the parking lot.

Wauchope said she, too, had been assured, in emails, that if her appointment needed to be rescheduled, she would be informed 24 hours in advance. Not hearing of changes, she left work Monday morning and drove across town, only to be told she could not get her shot after all.

She was directed to a lineup inside the centre where people, many of them expressing frustration, waited to reschedule.

Wauchope said about 50 front-line workers in local care homes were also surprised by the last-minute change.

“Now it’s an absolute scramble for homes to rebook appointments.”

Southlake is reviewing all scheduled appointments and is in the process of rescheduling those that need to be delayed further, Haggerty said.

The hospital will reach out to those impacted directly at the email address they provided when they received their first vaccine.

“I’ve been at the centre when people are getting their vaccines and you can see the sense of relief, that they are turning the corner and there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. I can understand this would be frustrating,” Haggerty said.

Wauchope says she understands too. Emotions are running high when there are so many vulnerable people dependent on caregivers getting immunized.

At the same time, she is philosophical, realizing vaccine centre staff face a massive undertaking, and she is prepared to wait a little longer.

About 2,500 people are expected to receive second doses at the centre this week. Vaccinations will ramp up as more supply becomes available and first doses can once again be administered, Haggerty said.

Updates will be available at covid-19.ontario.ca