Opening of second Newmarket vaccination clinic put on hold temporarily

York Region Public Health is looking for an additional location in time for the increased delivery of vaccines by March 22 or 23

Newmarkettoday.ca
March 12, 2021

The Newmarket vaccination clinic at Ray Twinney Recreational Complex.
The opening of a second vaccination clinic in Newmarket has been put on hold, after the space at the Ray Twinney Recreational Complex had to be commandeered by the existing clinic last week.

York Region Public Health had planned to use an arena at the complex to open an additional clinic, alongside the current one being operated by Southlake Regional Health Centre in another arena at that location. However, that space was required for the Southlake clinic to allow people with appointments to wait indoors, rather than lining up outdoors, according to medical officer of health Dr. Karim Kurji. 

With both rink surfaces now occupied, a new location for the second clinic needs to be found quickly, Kurji told regional councillor this morning.

"We are losing about half of (the space) with the second rink. So we are in discussions to replace that with another site in Newmarket, whether that is still at Ray Twinney, at another site, or a drive-thru site," he said.

"It would be my hope that we could open that one too as quickly as possible near March 22 or 23, when we expect vaccine doses to be in higher quantities."

Newmarket Mayor John Taylor said town staff would work with the public health unit to find a way to allow the clinic to go ahead at Ray Twinney, even without access to the second ice pad.

"I just want to assure you that we can work with (public health) and Southlake to accommodate the clinic. We could possibly move the queueing outside into tents in certain situations or have drive-thrus. Just know that our staff will continue to work and do whatever is necessary to make the site more productive," Taylor said.

The second clinic in Newmarket isn't the only new vaccination location to be opened in York Region in the next few weeks.

"We expect to open several clinics the week of March 23. These would be mainly in community centres in Markham. We are also working with our partners in King City with a view of opening those as well," said Kurji.