The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit is launching an online registry for individuals who received a COVID-19 vaccine outside of the province or country.
CEO Nicole Dupuis says an online registration form is now active on the health unit's website.
She says it's for Windsor-Essex residents who received one dose or both doses outside of Ontario or elsewhere.
Dupuis says individuals who are filling out the form, will be asked to provide proof of their vaccination.
"When they are registering all their information, they'll have to upload whatever proof of vaccination they have been provided whether it was in the U.S. or another country or outside of Ontario and our team will work to verify the information and complete the registration process," says Dupuis.
She says there are some residents who received a vaccine in Ontario but are still not in the system.
"Some people vaccinated in Ontario who might have received what is referred to as non-Ontario stock and so they wouldn't currently be in our system, those individuals may have received their vaccine from military sites or one of those locations so they'll be able to also register online," she says.
Photo courtesy: Windsor-Essex County Health Unit
Dupuis adds individuals who received a vaccine outside of Ontario, are not being accounted for in the local COVID-19 vaccination rates.
"Individuals will be able to go in online, enter all their information and then we will be able to register them into the COVax Ontario system," says Dupuis. "So they'll have their proof of vaccination received that they can print off in Ontario."
In May, the health unit launched an online questionnaire and heard back from more than 1,400 people who received a COVID-19 vaccine outside of the province.
Dupuis says the health unit believes there are several thousand Windsor-Essex residents who received a vaccine elsewhere.