Last weekend, 5,000 appointments were left unfilled in Montreal alone. Some experts attribute the empty appointment slots to government messaging.
According to Dr. Amit Arya, the AstraZeneca vaccine is adding to the difficulty. “The COVID-19 vaccine is, in fact, the largest public health intervention of our lifetime,” Arya said. In other areas, such as Huron-Perth, Ontario, officials have reported an increase in people “shopping around” for specific vaccines, scheduling multiple appointments and slowing down the process for others. “Vaxxers are not anti-vaxxers or vaccine-hesitant; they simply want simple questions answered in a culturally safe manner,” Dr. Arya explained. The vaccine rollout in Canada has been complicated, with some vaccines going unclaimed.
Many critical workers say they are more than willing and eager to fill open positions. According to Ontario’s current plan, vast swaths of essential workers, including teachers, will not receive their first shots until mid-May; and even then, only on a newly announced accelerated timeline.
After months of preparation, British Columbia finally launched its province-wide online vaccination booking system on Tuesday.
It’s just another example of the haphazard rollout that has residents in many provinces saying ‘no thanks.’
News and picture source: CTV
