WAIT LIST OFFERS END-OF-DAY VACCINE WITHIN 45 MINUTES

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

SIMCOE MUSKOKA — If you’re ready to go you may be able to get the first available vaccine within the hour the same day — subject to availability.

The health unit says today that a standby list has been set up for those who are eligible and can get to an appointment within 45 minutes of receiving a call.

But you have to sign up every day.

“Eligible individuals can sign up to get on the standby list for that day only,” Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit spokesperson Kara Thomson-Ryczko tells MuskokaTODAY.com.

“If they don’t get called for that day, they will have to sign up again the next day,” she said.

It says the standby list has been launched as a new way to use up any remaining vaccine doses at the end of each clinic day and is created new each day.

Individuals can add their name to the standby list at www.smdhu.org on those days that they are available and must meet current eligibility criteria to qualify.

People are still encouraged to book an appointment outside of the standby list, and if they are called from standby list staff will help them cancel their previously booked appointment.

The provincial online booking site is www.Ontario.ca/bookvaccine.

Or you can call the Provincial Vaccine Booking Line at 1-833-943-3900.

In addition, beginning Thursday May 6, the following groups will be eligible to book a COVID-19 vaccine appointment through the provincial online booking site, or by calling the Provincial Vaccine Booking Line:

  • Individuals turning 50 and over in 2021;
  • Individuals with high-risk health conditions;
  • People who cannot work from home who fall under Group One (including remaining elementary and secondary school workers);
  • And First Nations, Inuit and Métis individuals, in addition to separate channels for booking at local Indigenous-specific clinics.

For more information about COVID-19, how to add your name to the standby list, and who is eligible for an appointment, please visit our COVID-19 pages at www.smdhu.org.

If you live within an hour of a vaccine clinic, you may be able to get the vaccine at the end of the day with a call from the health unit – depending on available left-over supply.

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