Appointment booking is available for individuals who have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine between February 15 and March 19 and:

- Had their second dose appointment cancelled as a result of the extended interval time period outlined by the Province of Ontario.

or

- As a result of extended interval timelines, were not offered the option of a second dose appointment at the time of initial appointment booking.

Important: We strongly recommend online booking.  In order to book your second dose appointment using the online tool, you must enter the same first and last name, date of birth and health card number (numerical data only; no lines, spaces or letters) as shown on the government issued ID provided at the time of your first dose appointment. If you provided an alternate form of government issued ID (i.e., drivers license, passport, etc.) when booking your first dose appointment, please leave the health card field blank in order to successfully complete the booking.

While every effort is being made to ensure vaccination clinics are being run efficiently, appointment cancellations and extra vaccine doses are part of a routine clinic process.

To ensure we are vaccinating as many Brant residents as possible, while minimizing vaccine wastage, the Brant County Health Unit (BCHU) has launched a COVID-19 vaccine appointment cancellation waitlist. We are inviting residents of Brant aged 60 to 64 (i.e. born from 1957 to 1961) to add their name and contact information to the list. In the event of last minute cancellation or extra doses being available, you will be contacted by BCHU staff. A Health Unit representative will inform you of the time and location of the available appointment.

If you wish to accept the appointment, we ask that you procced to the vaccination clinic within 30 minutes of being contacted. If you are unable to attend the clinic being offered that day, you may decline the appointment. Your information will remain in our system and you will continue to be considered for future cancellation opportunities.

Please note: Appointments may be offered at any of our three operating vaccination clinics across Brantford and the County of Brant (Laurier University, 1 Market St; Paris Fairgrounds, 139 Silver St, Paris). Due to the last-minute nature of this system and potential travel required, it is important to note that this style of appointment booking is not for everyone. We recommend this type of booking for individuals with reliable access to a vehicle. By adding your name to the waitlist, you understand the following:

• - There is no guarantee you will receive a vaccination, as this is determined by a variety of factors such as: vaccine availability, dose allocations, appointment cancellations, etc.
• - You will not receive special advanced notice or priority access to booking systems (both online and phone) when mass booking becomes available for your specific age group as outlined by the Province of Ontario.  
• - Choosing to not participate in the waitlist does not preclude you from receiving a vaccine when mass booking becomes available for your specific age group as outlined by the Province of Ontario.   
  

We intend to expand eligible ages to participate in the COVID-19 appointment cancellation waitlist as we continue to proceed through different phases of our mass immunization plan.

Starting April 1, 2021, select pharmacies in Brant will be offering AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine appointments for eligible individuals aged 55 or older.

For more information on available locations or to make an appointment, please visit the Province'sCOVID-19 pharmacy vaccine locationwebpage.

Please note, pharmacy vaccine clinics are not affiliated or administered by BCHU. Individuals looking to make an appointment must contact a participating pharmacy directly for information and support with appointment booking. 

The Ministry of Health and Vaccine Task Force has rolled out a three-phase distribution plan for Health Canada approved COVID-19 vaccines.

Current Status:

• Next priority groups from Phase 1
  
• The following groups from Phase 2:
• Individuals aged 60 years and older
  
• Residents, their essential caregivers and frontline workers in high-risk congregate living settings
• "Highest and High risk" conditions under the Province's Primary Priority for Phase Two and their applicable essential caregivers (for those with Highest-risk conditions). Individuals with eligible "Highest and High risk conditions" should contact their healthcare provider to discuss eligibility and receive booking information.
  
  

Phase 1

Immediate Priority

• staff, essential caregivers and any residents that have not yet received a first dose in:
• long-term care homes
• high-risk retirement homes
• First Nations elder care homes
• alternative level of care patients in hospitals who have a confirmed admission to a long-term care home, retirement home or other congregate care home for seniors
• health care workers identified as highest priority, followed by very high priority, in the Ministry of Health's guidance on Health Care Worker Prioritization (PDF)
• Indigenous adults in northern remote and higher risk communities (on-reserve and urban)

Next Priority 

• adults 80 years of age and older
• staff, residents and caregivers in retirement homes and other congregate care settings for seniors (for example, assisted living)
• health care workers identified as the high priority level in the Ministry of Health's guidance on Health Care Worker Prioritization (PDF)
• all Indigenous adults
• adult recipients of chronic home care

Phase 2

Scheduled to occur between April – July 2021, depending on availability of vaccines. Those eligible for the vaccine in Phase 2 include the following:

• Older adults, between 60-75-79 years of age;
• Individuals with specific health conditions and some primary caregivers;
• People who live and work in congregate settings and some primary caregivers;
• People who live in hot spots with high rates of death, hospitalizations and transmission; and,
• Certain workers who cannot work from home.

For more detailed information on who is eligible in Phase 2, please visit the Province's website.

Phase 3

Beginning in August 2021 and will include remaining Ontarians, over 16 years of age, in the general population who wish to be vaccinated.

A caregiver is someone who is designated by an individual and/or their substitute decision-maker and visits to provide direct care to a person (e.g. supporting feeding, mobility, personal hygiene, cognitive stimulation, communication, meaningful connection, relational continuity and assistance in decision-making). Examples of caregivers include family members who provide meaningful connection, a privately hired caregiver, paid companions and translators.

As we continue to proceed through the vaccine rollout plan as outlined by The Ministry of Health and Vaccine Task Force, essential caregivers will be eligible for vaccination in the following priority: 

Phase 1:
Essential caregivers for the following groups are eligible in Phase 1:

• Essential caregivers that have not yet received a first dose in:
• long-term care homes
  
• high-risk retirement homes
• First Nations elder care homes
  

• Essential caregivers in retirement homes and other congregate care settings for seniors (for example, assisted living)
• Caregivers for adult recipients of chronic home care
  

Phase 2:
The following caregivers will be eligible to receive a vaccination in Phase 2: 

Appointments for groups identified as a Primary Priority will be offered first in Phase 2 of Ontario's vaccination program, such as:

• Individuals with health conditions, starting with Highest Risk and High-Risk health conditions
• Includes up to 1 essential caregiver for those in the Highest Risk group 
  
• Residents, Essential Caregivers and Staff of High-Risk Congregate Settings
• Essential Caregivers are included for the following congregate settings: developmental services, mental health and addictions congregate settings, homes for special care, children's residential facilities, and Indigenous healing and wellness facilities
  

Appointments for caregivers of groups identified in Secondary Priority include:

• Remaining Individuals with At-Risk Health Conditions

For more information on eligible populations in Phase 2, please visit Phase 2 Prioritization for COVID-19 Vaccination.

Thanks to advances in science and technology, and an unprecedented level of global collaboration, Health Canada authorized Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine on December 9, 2020 ,Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on December 23, the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on February 26, 2021 and the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) COVID-19 vaccine on March 5, 2021. This news comes after a thorough and independent review determined that all vaccines met stringent safety, efficacy and quality requirements.

Refer to the Brant COVID-19 Vaccination Plan Overviewfor more information about how vaccine distribution is being planned in Brant.

Please note, the details of this plan are largely dependent on:

• consistent vaccine supply
• uninterrupted vaccine supply
• prioritization from the Province remaining unchanged

These sites will be located at One Market on the Wilfrid Laurier Brantford campus (1 Market Street, Brantford, ON) and the Paris Fairground (139 Silver Street, Paris, ON). 

Please note, that the main entrance to 1 Market Street is located at Dalhousie and Market Street.

Both of the sites have interiors that are completely accessible. We would encourage all those with accessibility concerns to reach out to covid19@bchu.org at least three days before their appointment date, to outline their specific need. We will make all reasonable efforts to accommodate accessibility concerns.

Mass immunization sites are not appropriate for everyone. They are for large volumes and are not necessarily the appropriate sites for individuals with specific health issues. Some individuals may be better served by another vaccine delivery model.

All COVID-19 vaccination clinics in our community will continue be appointment based. BCHU, along with our community partners, would ask that residents please refrain from visiting these or any other vaccine administration sites without a prescheduled appointment.

BCHU is following direction from the Province that all those administering COVID-19 vaccine begin to follow recommendations made by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) to extend the time interval between the first and second doses of the current, Health Canada approved, two dose COVID-19 vaccines to 16 weeks.

As a result of this decision, public health units across Ontario have been directed to make adjustments to pre-existing second dose appointments for those that do not fall within the new 16 week second dose interval. This will allow Ontario to rapidly accelerate its vaccine rollout and maximize the number of people receiving a first dose within a context of limited supply.

As per direction from the Province, the following populations will not have their second dose extended to the 16 week interval:

• Residents of long-term care homes, retirement homes, Elder Care Lodges and Assisted Living facilities

• First Nations individuals are eligible to have their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine at 21 or 28 days, depending on the vaccine.

• Individuals with transplants (stem cell or solid organ), and those on stable active treatment for malignant cancers (not including radiation or hormonal therapies), may also receive their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine at the monograph intervals and not the 16 week interval.

Until vaccines are widely available, it remains important to take steps to protect yourself, your loved ones and our community against COVID-19. This includes staying home as much as possible, keep two metres (six feet) distance from others, wearing your mask and washing your hands often.

The BCHU would like to remind community members to remain vigilant when receiving phone calls, emails or text messages from unfamiliar sources relating to COVID-19 vaccinations.

Please note that BCHU will never ask for your bank or credit card information. The Government of Canada has put together a list of known COVID-19 scams. 

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre has developed tips to help protect you from scammers. If you receive an email, text message or phone call from someone you do not know or that you think is fake, here are some things you can do:

• Keep your computer and smartphone safe. Do not click on any links, pictures or documents from people you do not know. Delete them.
• Do not give out personal or financial information.
• Do not be afraid to say no.
• Do not feel pressured. Know you can always hang up the phone.
• Do your research. Find out if the person or company is real.

BCHU, along with our Joint Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) partners, is actively planning to ensure our community is ready to deliver the vaccine when it is available. We are using lessons learned from our experiences from the H1N1 influenza pandemic in 2009 to inform plans.

All levels of government play important roles in delivering the COVID-19 vaccine to residents:

• The federal government is responsible for approving vaccines as safe and effective for use and procuring them;
• The provincial government is responsible for creating a provincial vaccination plan that includes distributing vaccines and supporting health system partners to deliver them to residents, starting with people who are most vulnerable; and
• BCHU, along with other local health units, will promote the importance of the vaccine, distribute certain vaccines and help immunize residents, investigate adverse events following immunization and share data with the province.

The Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) COVID-19 vaccines were authorized by Health Canada after a thorough and independent review determined they met stringent safety, efficacy and quality requirements. Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada will continue to closely monitor the safety of the vaccine once it is available.

How mRNA vaccines work
MRNA vaccines, like Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, tell your body's cells to make "spike proteins." The spike proteins are specific to the virus that causes COVID-19. Your immune system will respond to the spike proteins by making antibodies that will fight off infection. Your new antibodies will break down the spike proteins and get rid of them. Your new antibodies will protect you from symptomatic illness if you are exposed to the COVID-19 virus. It is not known if the vaccine can prevent infection and transmission. The vaccine does not contain the virus and so it cannot give you COVID-19.

The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have been tested in large clinical trials to ensure they have met safety standards, and has been licensed and approved by Health Canada.

How viral vector-based vaccines work
Viral vector-based vaccines, like the AstraZeneca vaccine, use a harmless virus, such as an adenovirus, as a delivery system. This "vector" virus is not the virus that causes COVID-19. Adenoviruses are among the viruses that can cause the common cold. There are many different types of adenoviruses, and many have been used as delivery systems for other vector-based vaccines for decades.

When a person is given the vaccine, the vector virus contained within the vaccine produces the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. This protein is found on the surface of the virus that causes COVID-19. This protein will not make you sick. It does its job and goes away.

Through this process, the body is able to build a strong immune response against the spike protein without exposing you to the virus that causes COVID-19.

Vaccine Benefits
Two doses of the Pfizer vaccine is 95 per cent effective against getting COVID-19 symptoms, and two doses of the Moderna vaccine is 94 per cent effective against getting COVID-19 symptoms.

After completing the two-doses of the approved mRNA vaccines, it may take another one to two weeks to achieve maximum protection against COVID-19. At this time, there is no information on the long-term protection with this vaccine.

The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine showed an effectiveness of about 62 per cent in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 disease beginning two weeks after the second dose. This effectiveness rate is based on an analysis of results from participants who had received the two dose regimen that will be used in Canada.

There is a small chance that you may still get COVID-19 after being vaccinated. It is important to continue with public health measures such as physical distancing, wearing a mask, and staying home if you are sick. Health care and other staff must still wear personal protective equipment (PPE) even after they have been vaccinated.

Side Effects and Risks
Some people may experience side effects from the vaccine, but they will likely be moderate and resolve after a few days. Some of the symptoms are part of the body's response to developing immunity.

AEFI: adverse event following immunization
NS: not solicited

In rare cases, serious allergic reactions (anaphylaxis) can occur. Allergic reactions can be treated and are usually temporary. Seek medical attention if you have trouble breathing, have hives or swelling of the face and throat. Vaccine side effects will continue to be monitored as people receive the vaccine. If you get a reaction to the vaccine, contact your health care provider who will report the side effect directly to public health. Public health will keep track of the reported side effects to make sure the vaccine continues to be safe.

Precautions

• Delay getting vaccinated if you have a fever or are sick with COVID-19 symptoms.
• Pregnant and breastfeeding women can get the vaccine, as long as they have talked to their healthcare provider.
  

Do not get this vaccine, if you:

• are under 16 years of age for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, under 18 years of age for the Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines;
• have an autoimmune disorder or a weakened immune system due to illness or treatment (unless you have consulted with your healthcare provider about the risk versus benefits); or
• have an allergy to an ingredient in the vaccine or had a previous severe reaction to this vaccine (consult your health care provider).
  

No. mRNA is not able to alter or modify a person's genetic makeup (DNA). The mRNA from a COVID-19 vaccine never enters the nucleus of the cell, which is where our DNA is kept. This means the mRNA does not affect or interact with our DNA in any way. Instead, COVID-19 vaccines that use mRNA work with the body's natural defenses to safely develop protection (immunity) to disease.

No. A direct connection with the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine and Bell's palsy, a condition that causes temporary facial paralysis, has not been established. The Pfizer study examined 38,000 patients and found four cases of Bell's palsy among those who received the vaccine, but this is in keeping with the normal observed incidence of Bell's palsy in the population. The COVID-19 vaccine, like all vaccines, continues to be monitored for adverse events.

Not yet. Even once protected, you can still carry COVID-19 and pass the virus onto others.
Vaccinated or not, all Ontarian's must follow the COVID-19 Response Framework. 

Yes. After your COVID-19 vaccination, it is important to keep following safety measures. 

Even once protected, you can still carry COVID-19 and pass the virus onto others. After you get a vaccine, continue to:

• Wear a face covering in enclosed public places and on transit
• Practice physical distancing between yourself and people outside your household
• Wash your hands often with warm water and soap or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth
• Stay home when you are sick
• Sneeze and cough into your sleeve
• Avoid contact with people who are sick