DAN CEARNS, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, for The Standard
KAWARTHA LAKES: The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health unit needs to see about 12,000 more COVID-19 vaccinations to reach the goal of having 90 percent of eligible residents vaccinated.
Currently, 85.5 percent of residents, 12 years of age and over, have received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 80.7 percent of that age group have received two doses. 86 percent of residents 18 and over have received one dose, and 81.4 percent of that demographic have received two doses.
“This means there’s still approximately 24,000 people [who] are eligible, [who] are age 12 and over,” local medical officer of health Dr. Natalie Bocking told reporters, on Wednesday, October 6th. “If we look at the additional members we would need to reach, to achieve 90 percent coverage, among the population aged 12 and over. We would need to reach approximately 12,000 more individuals to get their first dose of vaccine.”
The local medical officer stated, the health unit is doing what it can to make vaccines available to all residents in the health unit area. “Geographically, we are trying to target some of our mobile vaccination clinics in areas [which] have lower coverage, to ensure those areas are getting good access to [the] vaccine. I think we’ve continued to see more rural areas [having] slightly lower coverage,” Dr. Bocking explained.