As of Saturday, April 3, Public Health Sudbury & Districts shifts to provincial online COVID-19 vaccine booking system for adults who are 70 and over this year

To date, more than 96% of adults aged 80 and over, and more than 80% of adults 75 to 79 within the Public Health Sudbury & Districts service area have been vaccinated or are booked for appointments for the COVID-19 vaccine. As a proportion of the population, Public Health has immunized just over 16% of its population. The comparable figure is 14.68% for the province. With this tremendous progress, Public Health is opening appointment bookings on Saturday, April 3, 2021, for adults who are 70 years of age and older in this calendar year. Also, as of Saturday, people aged 70 and older will have the new option to book online in addition to the phone booking system.

“I am very encouraged by the high demand for COVID-19 vaccine in our service area. The smiles on faces of those immunized—and their families—and the many words of encouragement boost our Public Health team through the long hours and constant readjustments of this extraordinary province-wide vaccine rollout. The sense of forward momentum is palpable, even as we continue to respond to cases and local outbreaks of COVID-19,” said Dr. Penny Sutcliffe, Medical Officer of Health with Public Health Sudbury & Districts. “We appreciate the leadership and support of our provincial partners that enable the local work of Public Health. This local work would not be possible without the strong partnerships with so many sectors in all our communities. Collectively, we continue to successfully book appointments, run mass and mobile immunization clinics across Sudbury and districts, and get vaccine into arms, safely and efficiently. This is remarkable progress and in time, vaccine will be available for anyone who wishes to receive it,” said Dr. Sutcliffe.

“I want to send a strong message of optimism to everyone, while also cautioning that we are at a tipping point. We are not out of the pandemic yet. With the rise in COVID-19 cases and the more transmissible variants of concern, we must stay the course until more people are immunized. I see this as the last stretch in our long pandemic marathon—we have to dig deep and know we have what it takes to get through this. Continue to keep your distance, wear your mask, and if you gather with anyone outside of your own household, do it outdoors,” stressed Dr. Sutcliffe.

Online booking system

Beginning Saturday, April 3, 2021, Public Health Sudbury & Districts will transition to the provincial online booking system for adults 70 years of age and older in this calendar year. For those who are currently eligible for vaccine and for those 70 and older who prefer phone-based booking, our call centre remains open to book appointments (starting Saturday for those 70 years of age and older).

• Online appointment booking: visit https://covid-19.ontario.ca/book-vaccine/ as of Saturday, April 3, 2021.
• Main line: call 705.674.2299 (toll-free: 1.800.708.2505), between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m., seven days a week.
• Alternate line: call 1.844.782.2273, between 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week.

Public Health is aware of the challenges some people have experienced while calling to book appointments, and everyone’s patience is greatly appreciated. While the transition to the provincial system may reduce our flexibility to quickly adapt to local circumstances, it will help increase capacity for our call centre, improve accessibility, and allow larger volumes of people to book appointments. As we trade local flexibility for additional capacity through online booking, appointment availability will continue to be based on vaccine supply and local eligibility.

If the online booking system indicates that no appointments are available, this means that the clinics are fully booked. Clinics will continue to be added by Public Health over time.

For details on local eligibility and upcoming vaccination clinics, visit our vaccination clinics page. Public Health Sudbury & Districts COVID-19 Vaccination Program Playbook (PDF, 4 MB) provides details about the local vaccination plans. For more information or if you have questions about the COVID-19 vaccine, please visit phsd.ca/COVID-19 or call Public Health Sudbury & Districts at 705.522.9200 (toll-free 1.866.522.9200). Public Health returns all calls received; however, at times, inquiry volumes are high. Patience is appreciated.

Background information

As of Wednesday, March 31, a total of 33 218 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered locally: 30 137 people received their first dose, and 3 081 people have been fully vaccinated. Public Health was able to secure additional doses of COVID-19 vaccine from the province in response to our request given the current outbreak among a very vulnerable population. As of March 29, 611 people who are experiencing homelessness, are precariously housed, and those that work with them have received the COVID-19 vaccine in Greater Sudbury. There are an additional 364 vaccination appointments planned for this population this week.