Dear members,
As you are aware the Ministry announced yesterday that they will make second dose administration of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine available, beginning with those who received their first dose of the vaccine between March 10 and March 19, 2021. For primary care this impacts the primary care clinics that were part of the initial AZ pilot in 6 PHUs (Peterborough Country City Health Unit, City of Hamilton Health Unit, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Health Unit, Peel Regional Health Unit, Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, and City of Toronto Health Unit).
For those sites that were part of the initial rollout of AZ vaccines, you have probably been contacted about next steps in getting the vaccines so that you can start booking the second doses to patients who want them through informed choice. This is a time limited rollout during the week of May 24 for individuals who opt for an earlier dose interval of 10 weeks with informed consent. If you are in one of those pilot areas and have not received any information about the second doses, please connect with your PHU contact or let us know so we can inform the Ministry.
The Ministry has released two documents to help primary care providers with the administration of 2nd dose of AZ vaccines:
In addition, take a moment and read the OCFP President’s Important Update about AstraZeneca Second Doses which also includes a script for your patients that you can adapt for your clinics.
And take a moment and watch Dr. Allan Grill as he speaks to CTV News about the second dose AZ with informed choice, VOCs, safely enjoying the outdoors and getting more #NeedlesInArms.
As always, we look forward to continually updating you on the provincial vaccination strategy. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or ideas. We hope you get an opportunity to safely enjoy the outdoors this long weekend if you can.
Yours in good health,
The AFHTO Team
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