Waterloo Region saw its highest number of vaccines given out at clinics in one day last Saturday during the ‘Every Dose Counts’ clinic at Bingemans in Kitchener. Some 12,820 people were inoculated.
Even without pharmacies and medical offices included, 20,077 people were vaccinated on the weekend, including children ages 12 and up.
Those looking to get vaccinated still can, as the clinic at Bingemans will be continuing offering vaccines until Sunday. Those looking to go after work, can go Tuesday and Thursday from 1 to 7:30. The clinic’s hours Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
“We will definitely do another drive through at Bingemans. We haven’t decided on what that date will be, but we know that that the uptake was fantastic because a week ago, Sunday we had 500 spots that were scooped up in about 45 minutes. And we then released another 300 spots for that day, and they were scooped up in 30 minutes so we know people do like the drive-thru option, and we will do that again,” said regional Chair Karen Redman.
By midweek, almost 81 per cent of adults in the region had received at least one shot, while 56 per cent of those over 18 had been fully vaccinated.
“We will have more pop-up clinics, and Vickie Murray, who is the operational lead for all of the clinics, wants to get a bus and go around not just to the high-risk neighbourhoods, which is what we’ve been doing to make sure they get vaccinated, but also to places like Conestoga Mall and Fairview Park Mall where people may get off of a train or transfer to a bus and go, ‘well, I’ve got half an hour, I’ll just walk in and get my shot.’ We’re looking at continuing to do everything we can to make sure that there are no barriers for anyone that wants to or is thinking about getting vaccinated.”
There were over 600 volunteers over the weekend helping to run the hockey hub clinic at Bingemans and helping to give out vaccinations.
“What they were getting in return was hope that we will be able to have the summer we wanted, the businesses will be able to open and stay open. And hopefully, that we will avert a fourth wave because people will continue to be vaccinated,” added Redman.
“We’re still in a fragile position, we still have hospitals that are full of patients with COVID – our ICU units are full. And we have sent recently patients to other hospitals. So, I would say, we’re not out of the woods yet. We still have to keep our foot on the gas. Our team will still continue to find additional ways to make vaccine available, but I really plead with the community, continue to get your first and second doses because that’s how we will tamp down the spread of delta and prepare ourselves for any other variants that come along. The vaccines have been proven to be very effective against Delta [variant] – the vaccines are great, they’re effective, they work, but they only work if they get into people’s arms.”
