A few family doctors in Chatham-Kent have started offering the COVID-19 vaccine to those who are eligible.
Chatham-Kent Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Colby said family doctors have always been part of the plan for the vaccine rollout, but now that has become reality. Colby said a couple of doctors' offices in Chatham-Kent have just started booking people for their COVID-19 shots. He added the doctors will contact any eligible recipients.
Colby said the vaccine being used by the family doctors right now is the AstraZeneca vaccine approved for those 55 and older and those not in that category should not be asking family doctors about it yet. He said the plan is to expand the vaccination rollout to more doctors' offices and pharmacies and asks for patience from people waiting for their turn.
Eligibility at the mass vaccination clinic at the John Bradley Centre in Chatham continues to be 60 and older. Colby doesn't expect that to change any time soon because volumes for that age group continue to be steady and the vaccine supply delivered by the province continues to be the same.
Colby said as of Tuesday, 27 per cent of Chatham-Kent residents 16 and over have been vaccinated.
Meanwhile, there isn't much change to the COVID-19 numbers for Tuesday.
Chatham-Kent Public Health reported the number of cases involving variants of concern and related mutations has reached 100. Officials also revealed the number of active cases has dropped again to 43 after five new cases and seven resolved cases were reported. All of the other numbers remain the same as the information provided on Monday morning.
There are zero Chatham-Kent residents in the Chatham hospital with the virus, the death toll remains at 13, and there are still five outbreaks -- one at A.A. Wright Public School in Wallaceburg, one at Ursuline College Catholic Secondary School in Chatham, one at Hudson Manor Retirement Home in Tilbury, and two workplace outbreaks. Those outbreaks combined have a total of five cases.
Walpole Island First Nation has six active cases and three deaths.