Lambton Public Health is temporarily opening the COVID-19 mass immunization at Clearwater Arena to administer second doses to high risk healthcare workers.
The clinic will be open for one day, on Monday, May 31, and appointments are available by invitation only.
Medical Officer of Health Dr. Sudit Ranade said it will act as a test run for the facility, and hopes it can operate as smoothly as the one at Point Edward Arena.
He said he isn't sure when they'll be able to open the Clearwater clinic on a full-time basis.
"It really depends on the volume of vaccine that we get and other kinds of operational considerations," said Dr. Ranade. "For now, I would say it's really good that we have that capacity in case there is a massive flood of vaccines in the next few months. The purpose of the test clinic is, because we've got it all set up, we want to make sure that we can run it efficiently and that way there won't be any delays if we do get a ton of vaccines."
Meanwhile, Dr. Ranade said the health unit has launched a survey, aimed at those who have received their COVID-19 vaccinations outside of Ontario.
"Those people would not be captured in our system because the system is entirely provincial," he said. "So, if there are people who went across the border and got their vaccination or if they happened to be in Manitoba, B.C., Quebec or another province and got their vaccine there, we're looking for those folks to fill out a survey that's on our website so that we can keep track of that and find a way to validate it later."
The health unit said the information gathered will be kept confidential until it can be transferred to the provincial database.
More information, and a link to fill out the survey, can be found here.