TORONTO -- Premier Doug Ford reached out to businesses, volunteers and retired health care professionals in the province to help get the booster shots to residents.
The Premier’s office released a statement on Dec. 22 reflecting the province’s continued efforts to ramp up boost capacity and get the booster shots into the arms of Ontarians. The Ontario government called out to businesses, volunteer and retired professionals to help do this.
“Our best defence against the highly transmissible Omicron variant is a lightning-fast offence,” said Premier Doug Ford. “In a few short weeks, Ontario has scaled up its vaccine rollout at incredible speed, but we aren’t stopping there. Everyone has a role to play. It’s all hands on deck as we boost up Ontario.”
Subsequently, the government is initiating the full potential of the province’s business, workers and union leaders to support the vaccine rollout by hosting employer-led clinics. According to the directive given by the Premier’s office, employer-led clinics must be set up, operated and funded by employers and meet established criteria to vaccinate employees aged 18 and over, their families and retirees, and members of the local and neighbouring communities as capacity will allow.
This will also be facilitated as more mass-vax sites, hospital clinics, pharmacies and primary care clinics come online. As a result, online and telephone portals connecting Ontarians and businesses will open opportunities to further boost Ontario’s vaccine roll-out.
Businesses can call the Ontario Together Contact Centre at 1-888-777-0554 to learn more about hosting a vaccination clinic. Community groups and places of worship interested in arranging a GO-VAXX mobile bus clinic visit, can contact GOVAXX@ontario.ca.
The province is also launching the Ontario COVID-19 Volunteer Portal and permitting retired health professionals to support the vaccine rollout.
The Ontario COVID-19 Volunteer Portal recruits everyday Ontarians as volunteers to support health care providers and others at vaccination clinics across the province. The portal is open to Ontarians 16 years and older who can register to volunteer in a variety of roles based on their abilities, knowledge and experience and the needs of their local public health units.
Further to this the Ontario government is making regulatory amendments to allow more individuals to safely administer the COVID-19 vaccine, such as retired nurses and physicians, dentists, and firefighters
These individuals are encouraged to register through the Health Workforce Matching Portal. Supervision will be required by a physician, registered nurse or nurse practitioner, or pharmacist who is present at the premises where the vaccine is administered.
"With the rapid expansion of booster doses to all Ontarians 18 and older, we’re getting boosters into the arms of Ontarians as fast as possible to protect our hospital capacity and limit transmission of the Omicron variant. Our province is incredibly grateful to all the dedicated health care professionals who have given so much for the past 20 months, and further increasing our capacity to give out boosters is critical in our fight against this virus, said Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health.
Once identified, Ontario will work to match individuals who signed up through both the Ontario COVID-19 Volunteer Portal and the Health Workforce Matching Portal with public health units according to local vaccination needs. To ensure safety requirements are met, education and training courses will be available to the additional vaccinators who need to build their competency to administer injections.