The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) has provided an update to its targeted vaccination clinics for local temporary foreign workers.
CEO Theresa Marentette says since April 18, 4,768 workers from across 132 farms have received their first dose of the vaccine from the clinic at the Nature Fresh Farms Recreation Centre in Leamington.
"Overall I think it did go very well," says Marentette. "We were predicting about 5000 workers and you can see we did just over 4700 so that is really really good."
Marentette says the health unit had a vaccination goal of 5,000 and adds some workers are being vaccinated in their home country before arriving in Ontario and Windsor-Essex.
"As we know, new arrivals to Canada are also getting vaccinated with their first dose and we will be provided support for second doses when they become available," she says.
There are upwards of 10,000 temporary foreign agri-workers who come to Windsor-Essex and work at area farms and greenhouses.
In 2020, the province said there were approximately 20,500 temporary foreign workers in Ontario and most resided in communal living quarters on farms.