COVID-19 vaccine eligibility expands to Ottawa residents 12 and older on Sunday

Mayor on splash pads, vaccine bookings Mayor Jim Watson speaks with Graham Richardson about the province reversing its decision on splash pads and moving up youth vaccine booking.

OTTAWA — Ottawa residents 12 and older will be able to book a COVID-19 vaccination appointment starting Sunday, but Mayor Jim Watson predicts "there's going to be a level of frustration" with a lack of available appointments at city clinics.

"The short answer is we don't have enough vaccines," said Watson during an interview on CTV News at Six Friday evening.

"This information about going down to ages 12 to 18 was announced just over an hour ago, so our staff are analyzing the situation trying to get ready for Sunday to see we do have some supply that's available."

The Ontario government has announced as of 8 a.m. Sunday, May 23, youth aged 12 and older across Ontario will be eligible to book a COVID-19 vaccine appointment through the provincial booking system and call centre. Appointments can also be booked at select pharmacies administering the Pfizer vaccine.

Watson says city officials have told Nepean MPP and cabinet minister Lisa MacLeod that Ottawa needs another 40,000 doses to meet the demand for residents 12 to 17.

"I think there's going to be a level of frustration," said Watson about the lack of available appointments in the city of Ottawa.

"We've been pushing the province to increase our allotment because we don't have vaccine hesitancy here like they do in other parts of the province, where you see a large number of appointments going unanswered in Peel and Toronto."

Health Canada has approved the Pfizer vaccine for use in individuals aged 12 and older.

Ontario says individuals who are not 12 years old on Sunday, May 23 can book an appointment for a later date through the provincial call centre.

Ontario expanded the COVID-19 vaccine eligibility on Tuesday to all residents aged 18 and older. Within three hours of the eligibility expanding to all adults, more than 40,000 appointments were booked for city of Ottawa clinics and all available appointments were filled until the end of June.

The city said it would announce if more vaccine appointments were available, but there has been no announcement on new appointments. CTV News Ottawa reached out to the city at 5 p.m. Friday to ask if more appointments would be made available and how many appointments have been booked, but was told answers to our questions would be provided next week.

Ottawa's general manager of emergency and protective services Anthony Di Monte said earlier this week that the city is planning to open dedicated COVID-19 vaccine appointments for youths 12 to 17.

"Our team is planning to operate dedicated clinics for youth and their family members during the weeks of June 14 and 21," said Di Monte.

Watson told CTV News at Six Friday evening that Ottawa has plans to open two additional mass vaccination sites next week.

"We need to get the doses increased so we can get more jabs into arms. Right now, it's unclear as to what our quantity is going to be for the next couple of days if we don't get a new supply from the province," said Watson.

WHAT YOU NEED TO BOOK AN APPOINTMENT FOR A COVID-19 VACCINE

The Ontario government says when booking an appointment through the provincial online system, you will be asked for the following information:

At the time of booking, eligible individuals will schedule their first and second vaccination appointments.