Public Health Sudbury and Districts has launched a pilot program to help people get vaccinated close to home and to increase overall vaccination rates. The health unit will be offering drop-in clinics this fall in a number of communities for COVID and flu shots. RSV vaccines are also available for those who are eligible. Dr. Mustafa Hirji, medical officer of health, said a one-year pilot project is being offered for walk-in vaccination clinics to help save lives. “Respiratory viruses in total, they are one of our Top 5 causes of death in Canada,” Hirji said. “COVID and flu, particularly amongst those, are the most deadly. Several thousand people die of those every year. We are sadly seeing children, unfortunately, die of influenza every year.” He said the viruses, including COVID, flu and RSV, have a huge impact on hospitals. “Every winter we see our hospitals go above their bed capacity quite significantly through the winter months and that’s all tied to influenza, COVID and other respiratory viruses,” Hirji said. “So you really do want to keep these respiratory viruses down because they have a big impact in terms of people’s health.” Public Health said vaccines are also available through pharmacists and primary care providers. “We have really tried to look at where there are lots of pharmacies? Where is there lots of primary care offices already offering vaccines?” Hirji said. ‘Then we are trying to pick up the places maybe where there is not as much support from them so we can maybe fill in that gap." The pilot project will cost up to $400,000, which is being covered by the health unit. “The provincial government has been sadly rolling back our funding for about a decade now, which is one of the reasons we stepped away from offering these vaccines and left it to our pharmacy and primary care partners,” he said. “Our hope is that if people vote with their feet and they come out and get the vaccines this fall, we will be able to say to the province that, look, if we put money into this, we can actually save the health care system a lot of money.” The drop-in vaccination clinics are being offered in communities spanning from Manitoulin Island to Chapleau and all areas of Greater Sudbury. Schedule information is listed on Public Health Sudbury and Districts website.
