In anticipation of COVID-19 vaccines arriving in larger quantities later this month, more vaccination sites are being readied in Windsor.
Windsor Regional Hospital will partner with the University of Windsor to establish a space downtown for a future vaccination site.
The Windsor Hall building, located at Pitt Street and Ferry Street, currently houses the School of Social Work and the Department of Continuing Education. It will be transformed to meet vaccination needs.
There's is currently just one vaccination site at the St. Clair College Sportsplex, which was originally set up as a field hospital for COVID-19 cases.
Hospital CEO David Musyj says the field hospital may be needed again for COVID-19 cases and that means other sites are need to vaccinate.
"We have a segregated area at St. Clair as an initial backup but because of the amount of vaccinations we're going to need to do, it's not large enough to handle the capacity. So we needed a backup to the backup," he says.
Musyj says the Windsor Hall building will be perfect for what they need and can be ready to roll in two to three weeks.
"So it's immediate need right now, is if for some reason we need St. Clair College Sportsplex to act as a field hospital to take bedded patients, we can move over downtown the same day, do vaccinations and continue vaccinations," he says.
The downtown site will just handle residents of the downtown core and the city's west side, according to Musyj. He says they will do some vaccinating at the college and will also be looking for an east side site.
"It's not meant to be, it's not going to be the only one for all of the city of Windsor. To vaccinate just for the city of Windsor, 200,000 people most likely twice, you need multiple facilities and multiple options. You're not going to do it in one facility," he adds.
Musyj says other municipalities will have to find sites too.
The timeline to open the new site is unknown as it's dependent on more shipments of the Pfizer vaccine supply in the coming weeks.