UHN pauses COVID-19 hotspot vaccine registration for 18-49-year-olds

Toronto’s University Health Network had closed its vaccine registry to young people from certain hotspot neighbourhoods just one day after opening it due to lack of supply.

On Monday, the hospital network announced people age 18 to 49 living in three hotspot postal codes could register for an opportunity to book an immunization appointment through one of the hospitals.

But by Tuesday evening, UHN announced it’s temporarily closing registration to that age group after seeing more demand overwhelm their vaccine supply.

“We opened the registry to the three postal codes in the hot spots and 21,000 people registered with an average of 100 people every five minutes,” UHN spokesperson Gillian Howard told Daily Hive via email.

“Given that we’ve been told to expect 5,000 doses in the next two weeks, we have temporarily closed the registry until the supplies of vaccine from the federal government strengthen.”

• See also:
  • Adults in three COVID-19 hotspots can register for vaccines at UHN
  • Ford asks hotspot workplaces to fund their own COVID-19 vaccination sites
  • North Etobicoke pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinic begins this week

UHN confirmed on Twitter that registration for young people in the three hotspots would re-open when the hospitals get more vaccine shipments.

Hotspot residents were defined as people with postal codes beginning in M5V, M6E, and M6H.

Registration for ages 18-49 in postal codes M5V, M6E, M6H has been temporarily paused. Anyone who has already registered will be contacted by UHN or @ONThealth when an appointment is available. Registration will re-open for this group when additional vaccine supply is confirmed.

— University Health Network (@UHN) April 13, 2021

UHN operates five vaccination clinics, and has capacity to immunize 35,000 people per week if vaccine supply is adequate.

People who already registered don’t yet have a confirmed appointment. They’ll be contacted at a later date by UHN or the Ontario Ministry of Health to book an immunization time.

Right now 18-49-year-old living in COVID-19 hotspots need to wait for mobile pop-up clinics to visit their neighbourhood. Details on those are being announced as they’re being set up.

This week, there is one is happening in North Etobicoke at BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Complex, and the Ontario government has asked large workplaces to volunteer to host more.