York Region reserving COVID-19 vaccines for newly eligible child care workers

As of Thursday, workers in licensed child care settings will be eligible to book vaccine appointments through the provincial vaccine website and local public health unit

Newmarkettoday.ca
April 29, 2021
Debora Kelly

In the wake of the province's announcement that child care workers are eligible for COVID-19 vaccines as of April 29, York Region is putting aside "a small number" of doses to ensure appointments are available for them, according to a York Region spokesperson.

Appointments for an additional 25,000 doses were made available yesterday morning -- of which nearly 15,200 were booked at public health-led clinics by 11:30 a.m. -- to residents aged 35 and older living in hot spot communities in Vaughan and Markham, pregnant women and all other previously announced eligible priority groups, said Patrick Casey, director of corporate communications.

As of Thursday, workers in licensed child care settings will be eligible to book vaccine appointments through the provincial website and local public health unit.

"A small number of the 25,000 available vaccination appointments have been held back to accommodate this new priority group," Casey said in an email.

Eligible workers in licensed child care settings will receive a letter from their employer advising of vaccine eligibility, he added.

To date, 395,747 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered to York Region residents:

43,647 doses age 80+, or 89.1% of residents in this age bracket
29,835 doses age 75-79, or 87.8% of residents in this age bracket
42,677 doses age 70-74, or 80.5% of residents in this age bracket
47,660 doses age 65-69, or 74.5% of residents in this age bracket
49,373 doses age 60-64, or 62.5% of residents in this age bracket
38,670 doses age 55-59, or 41.6% of residents in this age bracket
32,244 doses age 50-54, or 35% of residents in this age bracket

26,697 doses age 45-49, or 30.7% of residents in this age bracket