These Waterloo Region pharmacies are booking COVID-19 vaccination appointments

Local pharmacies to administer COVID-19 vaccine From CTV Kitchener's Krista Sharpe: Local pharmacies are now booking appointments to administer COVID-19 vaccines.

KITCHENER — Pharmacies in Waterloo Region are now booking appointments to administer COVID-19 vaccines.

The province released an expanded list of pharmacies offering the AstraZeneca vaccine on Thursday. The age eligibility to 55.

Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang said the province asked for input on which pharmacies to include in the next stage of rollout.

"We did have input into the selection of pharmacies," Dr. Wang said at the region's COVID-19 briefing on Thursday morning. "One of the things we wanted to provide as input was a good distribution of the locations such that there was good coverage of our region and, in particular, areas where we see higher rates of COVID-19."

Dr. Wang said there appeared to be good coverage in the distribution of the pharmacies in Waterloo Region.

"We've been getting calls from customers for months, but since this announcement our phones have been ringing off the hook," said Bryan Langel, a pharmacist at Shoppers Drug Mart on Dundas Street in Cambridge.

Langel said his team has been training with a new online booking system and he's hiring.

"We've brought on some registered techs, we've brought in extra pharmacists and assistants all help with that," he said.

Langel said his location was chosen based on COVID-19 cases in the area.

"The pharmacies that are listed are in neighbourhoods that tend to be a bit more impacted by COVID, so it's an effort to get vaccines out into the neighbourhoods that probably need it the most," said Dr. Kelly Grindrod, a vaccine specialist with the University of Waterloo and member of the region's vaccine task force. "Now the onus is on the pharmacies to get people in, to get vaccines in arms."

Langel said he has the fridges and needles necessary for AstraZeneca vaccines, since they've been offering flu shots for years using the same supplies.

"Very excited to be given the opportunity to do this and be a part of change and part of the solution," he said.

Langel hopes to have doses at his pharmacy in the next few days.

These locations will offer vaccines.

Kitchener:

Waterloo:

Cambridge:

Guelph:

A full list of pharmacy locations across Ontario, along with hours and contact information, can be found here.