COVID-19 vaccine drop-in clinic pops up in Ottawa South

Drop-in clinic in south Ottawa Another drop-in clinic is running in Ottawa's south end for those 18+ in several high-risk neighbourhoods. CTV's Jeremie Charron reports.

OTTAWA — Another COVID-19 vaccine clinic for residents of high-priority neighbourhoods has popped up in Ottawa South.

This clinic is at the AMA Community Centre at 1216 Hunt Club Rd. It is for adults 18 years of age and older who live in five areas identified by Ottawa Public Health as high-risk communities.

There are 600 vaccine appointments available at the clinic, which operates from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Another clinic will be held at the same location on Friday. Proof of address must be presented in order to be eligible for a vaccine appointment.

This is a drop-in clinic, with no appointments necessary. It is similar to a clinic that opened in the Overbrook neighbourhood on Tuesday at the Overbrook Community Centre. That clinic handed out appointments for all 500 of its doses in under three hours. A second clinic in Overbrook will be held Thursday.

In a statement to CTV News, Ottawa Public Health said it was not advertising these pop-up clinics widely, but would instead target neighbours in a variety of ways on the ground, including door-knocking, flyers, emails and phone calls with the aid of community partners.

"These clinics will not be promoted widely to the greater public as the intent is to reach individuals in specified areas," OPH said. "Due to limited vaccine supply, proof of address will be required to ensure eligibility. Community clinics continue and will be advertised broadly."

However, Newstalk 580 CFRA was tipped off about the clinic shortly before the South-East Ottawa Community Health Centre shared details about it on Twitter Wednesday morning.

On Monday, the provincial government opened up vaccine appointments through the provincial portal to anyone 18 or older in three forward sortation areas in the capital: K1V, K1T, and K2V. At 8 a.m. Thursday, anyone 50 and older, as well as people with high-risk health conditions (including obesity and people undergoing immunosuppressive treatments like chemotherapy) and the first group of essential workers who cannot work from home (such as education workers, agriculture and farm workers, and food manufacturing and distribution workers) will become eligible to book a vaccine appointment through the provincial system.