With the latest rise of COVID-19 cases in Windsor-Essex, the local Medical Officer of Health feels the community needs to take action now.
Speaking on AM800's The Morning Drive, Dr. Wajid Ahmed encouraged those who are unvaccinated or have only received one dose to attend a series of vaccination clinics in Leamington.
"We continue to look at the vaccination rates in many of our neighbourhoods and these pop-up clinics, these mobile clinics we are looking at other innovative techniques as well just to make it easier for people to get the vaccine," says Dr. Ahmed. "This time around we are going to those neighbourhoods, to those areas where people may not be so keen on coming to the clinics. "So we're taking the clinics to them and we truly hope that the public and the community gets a clear message, the expectation and all the support they need to get themselves vaccinated."
As AM800 news reported on Monday, the health unit is teaming up with the Community Response and Stabilization Team (CRST) to run the clinics.
Dr. Ahmed adds roughly 20 per cent of the population in Windsor-Essex that is eligible to receive a vaccine are not vaccinated.
"We are talking about roughly 60 to 70 thousand people, that's a lot of people and any high risk activities could potentially put others at risk," says Dr. Ahmed. "Our numbers are going up, we definitely need to take action."
The clinic will be held at the Princess Centre at 33 Princess St. starting today (Wednesday) to Friday from 2pm to 8pm.
Appointments and health cards are not required.
There are also mass vaccination clinics at Devonshire Mall inside the former Sears building and at Leamington's Nature Fresh Farms Recreation Centre.