We are going to be giving the Covid-19 vaccine shots!
We have received the official go-ahead, our supplies are coming soon, and we will be set to go for Monday! We will be able to vaccinate people who are 55 and older. If you are eligible and would like to get your vaccination from us, please call the Clinic pharmacy at 519-765-2880, and we will add you to the list.
Before you arrive, please fill out the vaccination consent paperwork, make sure you have your health card with you, and wear something with short sleeves so we can inject into your shoulder without stripping you down. You can download a copy of the consent form at http://www.swpublichealth.ca/…/COVID-19-Vaccine… Its a bit long, 5 pages or so, so please have it done ahead of time! We have a limit of 3 people in the store, so we won’t have room to have people standing around filling out forms.
When you arrive, we will pre-screen you (the usual “Do you have Covid today?” questions: Do you have symptoms? Have you been in close contact with people who have it? Have you left the country? etc) and check you into the system. Then you get your injection, and settle in for the required 15 minute observation to make sure you have no immediate severe side effects. After your 15 minutes is up, we check you out of the system and you are on your way!
The vaccine we will be using is the “Covishield” vaccine, made by Astra-Zenica. This is an effective vaccine, preventing 70% of people from getting any Covid infection, and also prevents nearly all severe infections that would cause you to need to be hospitalized. There has been some news reports about this type of vaccine causing blood clots that may be concerning to you. The rate of those blood clots occurring is 4 in every 100,000 vaccinations. To put that in perspective, we could vaccine 4 towns the size of Aylmer before we would expect 1 blood clot. (and while we were at it, we would stop about 10 current cases of Covid-19, which would cause about 4 blood clots!) We will discuss the symptoms of a blood clot at your appointment, along with any other serious side effects to watch out for so that you know what to look for and can seek medical attention if needed.
Aylmer (and the rest of the N5H postal code) has been designated as a Covid-19 hotspot by the provincial government. That means that anybody 50 and up is eligible to be vaccinated (18 and up was reported by some news sources, but that is only for the hot spots in the Toronto area). However, the vaccine that is available to us is only for 55 and older as per Health Canada and the NACI. If you are 50 and up, you should call Southwest Public Health at 226-289-3560 to book an appointment (their website currently does not have the hot spot programmed into it for under 60 years old).
We hope to see you soon!
