The Ottawa area's weekly COVID-19 vaccine checkup: April 1

CBC Ottawa is doing a weekly roundup of COVID-19 vaccine developments in the region every Thursday.

The provinces, health units and health authorities have more information in thelinks at the bottom of the page.

Ontario has set wide vaccine guidelines and given health units someflexibility around it. Some, but not all, of the ways the health units may differ from the province are singled outbelow.

Provincially and federally

Ontario letpeople ages 70 to 74 book a vaccine appointment starting Monday morning in Ottawa, the Kingston area and Leeds, Grenville and Lanark counties.

Both Ontario and Quebec have suspended use of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine in people under age 55 after a recommendation from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization, which has safety concerns about its use with that age group.

The federal government is expecting its first shipments of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccineby the end of April and is getting millions of Pfizer-BioNTech doses early, in June.

Ottawa

The capitalfilled up all its vaccine spots for people over age 70 on Monday.

Thirty-four pharmacies in Ottawacould be offering vaccines as soon as next week, according to the Ontario Pharmacists Association this past weekend.

It's one of the areas wherehealth-care workers and other priority groupshave signed up to get leftover vaccines on very short notice.

More than130,000 doses have been given to residents, including nearly 25,000 second doses,out ofits population of about 1,050,000.Keep in mind here and in the other health units thatmany groups of people are not yet eligible.

Ottawa Public Health is now sharing more vaccine information in a new dashboard, including how many residents have their first and second doses and which kind of vaccine they've received.

Eastern Ontario Health Unit

Medical Officer of Health Dr. Paul Roumeliotis said late last week it had offered second vaccine doses to all care home residents.

He said Monday its vaccine appointments are all booked until April 9 and that's why they had to turn down expanding eligibility to people age 70 to 74, though that should happen soon.

"We didn't want to open it up for [people] 70-plus and not have spaces," he told reporters.

The unit wants to expand clinics, offer more pop-up vaccine clinics, bring shots to people's homes and is looking for places that could host a drive-thru vaccine clinic, he said.

The MohawkCouncilofAkwesasne wants residents to make sure they confirm or cancel their vaccine appointmentsso it can efficiently move through its list.

Among a population of about 209,000, more than 23,000vaccine doses have been administered.

Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington

First doses have been offered to residents at the region's 12 retirement homes.

More than 200 Queen's University medical students have been helping at local vaccine clinics.

LISTEN | An interview with one of the students startsaround the 2:30 mark:

The region, with a population of about 213,000,has given more than 44,000 vaccine doses to residents, including morethan 2,500 second doses.

Renfrew County

Residents age 75 to 79 were able to book a vaccine appointment starting Monday as the health unit manages what it calls a supply problem.

It said Tuesday it's given a first dose to about 81 per cent of its residents age 80 and above.

It has given about 14,100 dosesout of a population of about 109,000 people.

Leeds, Grenville and Lanark

This unit is working to expand its Brockville vaccine clinic. It has filled all its appointments until May.

Unlike the other health units, it shares how many people it has vaccinated: about 18,400 have had at least one dose. Its rough estimate is about 24,000 residents are eligible under Phase 1 of the province's plan.

There's a population of about 173,000.

Hastings Prince Edward

A new vaccine clinicis open out of Rink 1at Trenton's Duncan McDonald Memorial Community Gardens.

The unit, which a population of about 168,000, has administeredmore than 28,000 vaccine doses, including nearly 2,000 second doses.

Western Quebec

The Outaouais has given more than 46,000 vaccine doses among a population of about 386,000.

In an update late last week, Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg's council said 855 doses had been given to people there.

For Grenville-sur-la-Rouge technically in the Laurentians health authority, but within CBC Ottawa's coverage area pharmacies can start givingvaccinesApril 5.