Update on vaccines for Healthcare Workers

Last Updated March 19th, 2021 at 8:46 p.m.

On March 17, we communicated that hospital healthcare workers who had not been scheduled yet for a first vaccine, should re-register under the hospital healthcare worker portal, adding in their health card number (LINK). Those have not yet done so can do so HERE.

Once that step is completed, the information will be shared with the provincial system to enable self-booking appointments. With that, scheduling of first dose appointments for the next group of hospital healthcare workers will begin next week in Hamilton.

What’s new
Significant progress is being made across Ontario, including in immunizing HCW. At Hamilton Health Sciences and St. Joe’s, 90 per cent of patient-facing hospital HCW from the “highest”, “very high” or “high” sequencing group who have signed up for vaccination have received a first dose.

For example:

• 20,000 doses of the vaccine have been given to healthcare workers from the city’s two hospital systems.
• Approximately 6,400 have received both doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

For that reason, in accordance with provincial guidelines, we are now moving to make vaccination available to hospital HCW in the “moderate” (or non-patient facing) sequencing group.

NOTE: this move does NOT lessen the availability of vaccine to other Ontarians who are currently eligible for vaccination under the provincial framework. This is a prudent step towards ensuring the safe, uninterrupted operation of both hospitals throughout the rest of the pandemic. Similar steps have been taken to assure the function of long-term care facilities and retirement homes.

What this means for hospital HCW

• First, anyone who had registered for vaccination on the St. Joe’s/HHS online tool and did not provide a health card number, have to register again.
• All HHS and St. Joe’s hospital HCWs still waiting for a first dose, have received (or will receive) a message from the provincial portal on how to self-book a vaccination appointment if they have re-registered with their Health Card Number.
• This will begin on Sunday, March 21, for those in the “moderate” group.
• As part of the self-booking process, healthcare workers can select the HHS vaccination clinic for their appointment (this option will be available starting Monday, March 22).
• Hospital HCWs who have not yet signed up to be vaccinated, can register online HERE.

We encourage all HCW to register and receive the vaccine to help curtail outbreaks at our sites. The vaccine is one method of dealing with outbreaks along with strong PPE and infection prevention and control measures.

We ask everyone to remain vigilant in protecting themselves and others by wearing a mask, remembering proper hand hygiene and practicing physical distancing.

Important vaccination process update

Last Updated March 17th, 2021 at 2:01 p.m.

What’s new

The vaccine appointment booking system is changing for healthcare workers (HCW) who have not yet been scheduled for a first dose, including those from the city’s two hospital systems. Hospital HCW not yet scheduled to be vaccinated will now have to re-enter their information, including their health card number (HCN) into the vaccine sign up tool. If this step is completed, HCWs will be emailed a link and instructions in the coming weeks, to book a vaccine appointment into the new provincial booking tool.

Who this applies to:

This requirement applies to every HCW who has registered for vaccination on the SJHH/HHS online tool and is not yet scheduled for their first dose.

What hospital HCW need to do:

Anyone in a category described above, MUST:

• Go to stjoes.ca/HCWCovidVaccine , and re-enter their registration, now including their HCN.
• Please do this as soon as possible

What this means for HCW:

• A text message will be sent by the SJHH/HHS online registration system/vaccination clinic, confirming this process and reminding HCW still waiting for their first dose, to register again.
• Once you have added your HCN, you will have to remain vigilant and look for an email/message from the provincial system in the coming weeks.
• It is critical to this process that valid email addresses are entered as this is how you will receive information about self-scheduling through the provincial system.
• Once you receive that message, you will be able to log in and book your own appointment.
• Hospital HCW will continue to be scheduled and receive vaccinations, according to the sequencing determine by the province.

Please note: If you have not yet registered for vaccine, please do so here stjoes.ca/HCWCovidVaccine.

Extending the interval for COVID-19 vaccine doses to 16 weeks

Last Updated March 16th, 2021 at 9:26 a.m.

We are providing more information in response to Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health’s determination that the COVID-19 vaccine dosing interval should follow revised recommendations from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI).  

As a result, the interval between the first and second dose has been extended to 16 weeks for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine which is the product being provided to hospital healthcare workers (HCW). The interval between first and second doses has also been extended to 16 weeks for the Moderna vaccine.

The intent of this provincial decision is to accelerate first dose vaccination for Ontarians and to protect large segments of the population sooner, to prevent hundreds of deaths across the province, and to prevent severe illness which, in turn, will help reduce pressures on hospitals, their staff and physicians.

Although we understand the concerns of some among our workforce, protecting more Ontarians sooner will benefit everyone by lessening the impact of COVID on our hospital and community. We realize this message is not an easy one for staff, physicians, residents and learners to receive. 

The current vaccination initiative against COVID-19 is a provincial program and all vaccines are being administered on behalf of the Ministry of Health (MOH). 

• Joe’s has NO latitude in deviating from these directives and we are not authorized to provide second doses to HCW sooner than the interval prescribed by the province. 
• Timing of the second dose will continue to be dependent on provincial decisions and global supply of vaccines.
• We will continue our efforts to ensure anyone who wants to receive a vaccination is able to get one in accordance with Ministry directives.

Again, we are aware that the delay is causing concerns, and leaders will listen to you and help to explain the process. We share the disappointment and we will continue to work with all levels of governments to ensure the quickest possible full immunization of HCW. 

COVID-19 vaccine documentation for OHS

Last Updated March 10th, 2021 at 4:51 p.m.

The COVID-19 vaccine roll-out to Healthcare Workers (HCWs) is a very positive and exciting development.

As we progress with the vaccination, we are requesting that all St. Joe’s HCWs who have received any COVID-19 vaccine (1^st and/or 2^nd dose), voluntarily send a copy of their Vaccination Record to the Employee Health, Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Office.

Please send your Vaccination Record to OHS:

• By email to CovidvaccineOHS@stjoes.ca 
• Fax to 905-521-6111
• By inter-hospital mail to OHS, Charlton Campus, Martha Wing, Level 4, Rm H401

All HCW medical documentation in OHS is maintained in strict confidence. The vaccination record will be used for outbreaks, and case and contact management.

Healthcare worker vaccination update – extending interval for second dose 

Last Updated March 9th, 2021 at 3:12 p.m.

We are pleased to report that more than 3,000 healthcare workers at St. Joe’s have received the COVID-19 vaccine, about two-thirds of them both their first and second dose.

Changes are now coming in the length of time between the first and second dose of the vaccine. Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health has decided to follow federal recommendations announced last week from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization to increase the interval between vaccine doses for everyone except the most vulnerable and at risk: residents of long-term care homes, retirement homes, Elder Care Lodges, Assisted Living facilities, and remote and isolated First Nation communities. The recommendations can be found HERE.

For all others, including healthcare workers, this means that the interval between first and second dose is now up to 16 weeks for the three two-dose vaccines currently approved by Health Canada (Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca/COVISHIELD).

• This change comes into effect on March 10.
• It means that anyone who receives a first dose on March 10 or after will receive their second dose up to 16 weeks later.
• Anyone who has already received their first dose and has not yet received their second dose by March 10^thwill have their second dose rescheduled to 16 weeks. You will be contacted to reschedule.

We know this is disappointing for many scheduled to receive their second dose. But the intent is to increase vaccinations to stop the spread of the virus for the benefit of everyone. It means that more hospital workers, as well as our families, friends and neighbours, will receive a first dose sooner.

Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. David William’s memo states that the decision is “to increase the number of individuals benefitting from a first dose of vaccine in the context of a limited COVID-19 vaccine supply.”

The rationale provided for this decision includes:

• Real-world experience with the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines indicates high vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic disease, hospitalization and death from COVID-19 for two months after the first dose.
• Based on immunological principles, vaccine science and modelling, this short-term protection is not expected to rapidly wane.

As we move faster than ever in our vaccination efforts, we ask everyone to continue to be vigilant in protecting themselves and others by wearing a mask, remembering proper hand hygiene and practicing physical distancing.

Healthcare worker vaccine update 

Last Updated March 2nd, 2021 at 4:19 p.m.

First dose vaccines have resumed for the Highest and Very High priority groups of healthcare workers. 

A reminder to all healthcare workers in the Highest and Very High priority groups who have signed up for the vaccine: 

• Clinic staff who will be reaching out to schedule appointments may use an “unidentified” or “blocked” caller number. We encourage all team members to answer phones to facilitate your receiving your appointment.
• It is also critical that staff, physicians, residents and learners do all they can to accommodate the date/time provided for their appointment. Please let your supervisor know about the time of your appointment if it is scheduled during your work time.

Update on vaccine sequencing for healthcare workers and vaccine rollout in Hamilton

Last Updated February 26th, 2021 at 1:04 p.m.

We are very pleased to report that all St. Joe’s and Hamilton Health Sciences healthcare workers who received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine will have received their second dose by end of day today.

Additionally, starting today, Hamilton is resuming the first dose vaccinations of the highest priority of healthcare workers.

This is good and hopeful news. We remind people there is still a still limited supply of vaccines, and distribution is based on government guidance for Hamilton’s vaccine rollout plan which will extend to more priority groups as supply allows. Read more about Hamilton’s vaccine rollout plan HERE.

Based on this prioritization:

• Vaccination has taken place with St. Joe’s long-term care (LTC) and transitional care bed patients, including the Satellite Health Facility. 
• Hamilton Public Health has vaccinated (at least first dose) of patients/residents of all LTC facilities and all high-risk retirement homes across the city. All other retirement homes are expected to be completed this week.
• We are very excited to announce that vaccination will begin Monday, March 1 of the first sub-set of city residents who are 85+ years of age. This includes both pop-up clinics in the city, as well as our West 5th Vaccine Clinic, which will vaccinate those who have had a visit to a Hamilton hospital or Hamilton hospital clinic within the past 6 months. We anticipate the clinic to expand once the government’s plan for a digital sign-up site happens March 15 for the 80+ age group. A huge thank-you to everyone who has been involved in getting the St. Joe’s West 5th COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic set up and operational so quickly.

Expansion of vaccine rollout to community healthcare workers

The provincial government has broadened the definition of healthcare worker to also include community healthcare workers and many first responders. Community healthcare workers who live and/or work in Hamilton can now register for the COVID-19 vaccine. Please feel free to pass this information along to community healthcare workers. Read more about the Province of Ontario’s COVID-19: Guidance for Prioritizing Health Care Workers for COVID-19 Vaccination. 

What this means for Hospital Healthcare Workers

The changes to the provincial sequencing essentially means that every patient-facing healthcare worker is now in one of the top two categories of sequencing - “highest” or “very high”. For our hospital healthcare workers, the highest priority aligns with the previous Sequence 1, and all remaining patient-facing healthcare workers are in the second category – very high. Please see HHS/SJHH’s full sequencing chart HERE, and a simplified chart below. 

All SJHH/HHS healthcare workers will continue to use the vaccine sign-up as they have done previously, and we encourage those who have not yet done so to go HERE. All hospital healthcare workers will continue to be vaccinated at the HHS Vaccine Clinic. 

• As noted above, first doses for the highest priority group resume today. As the vaccine supply allows, we will move through the remaining categories, with the “very high” patient-facing healthcare workers following in sequence. At this point, there is no timeline for when we will move through all the remaining categories. We will continue to update you as more information becomes available. 

Hamilton City Plan for broader COVID-19 vaccine rollout

Last Updated February 19th, 2021 at 2:05 p.m.

St. Joe’s is proud to be involved in the City of Hamilton’s vaccine rollout, announced today by Hamilton Public Health. 

The city provided a high level plan for the larger vaccine rollout, working in partnership with Hamilton hospitals, family physicians, paramedics and other community groups. The plan includes utilizing multiple vaccine sites, among them five large-scale clinics spread across the city. One of those is the West 5th vaccine site that we announced yesterday. Additionally, the city will utilize mobile clinics/on-site clinics including pop-up facility clinics, mobile bus clinics, rolling clinics and drive-through clinics. Models also include the use of primary care offices and pharmacies as a way of further distributing the COVID-19 vaccine during later phases of the plan.

The vaccination process is just beginning and, as you know, has focused on vulnerable populations in long-term care and high-risk retirement home settings. Our own Priority 1 hospital healthcare workers and some Priority 2 have received the first dose and we’re scheduling completion of the second dose for those people by the end of next week. First doses are expected to begin again for highest priority hospital healthcare workers on Feb. 26, and more information will come about that process.

The city plan states that within the next 2-3 weeks, the following populations will be eligible to receive first dose of vaccination locally: 

• Adults 80 years of age and older.
• Staff, residents and caregivers in retirement homes and other congregate care settings for seniors (e.g., assisted living). 
• Health care workers in the High Priority level, and in accordance with the Ministry of Health’s guidance on Health Care Worker Prioritization. This includes both hospital healthcare workers and patient/client-facing healthcare workers in the community designated as High Priority.
• All Indigenous adults. 
• Adult recipients of chronic home care.

For more information on Hamilton’s vaccination plan, go to the COVID-19 Vaccines section of the City’s website at www.hamilton.ca/COVIDvaccines. 

Province adjusts guidance on prioritizing health care workers for COVID vaccination

Last Updated February 18th, 2021 at 3:14 p.m.

This past weekend, the province adjusted its direction for vaccine prioritization for healthcare workers. The goal remains to “vaccinate all eligible and willing health care workers as quickly as possible, starting with those at highest risk of exposure to COVID-19 and who are critical to the COVID-19 pandemic response, based on vaccine availability.”

All hospital healthcare workers continue to fall into the Phase 1 category, as do many healthcare workers in the community, such as medical first responders and community healthcare workers serving specialized populations.

The new guidance creates sub-categories that are:

• Highest priority
• Very high priority
• High priority
• Moderate priority

St. Joe’s is reviewing the new provincial guidance with Hamilton Health Sciences to determine if our hospital vaccine sequencing framework will need to be updated to reflect the changes and will provide more information once this review is complete.

Continued vaccine rollout for hospital healthcare workers

Last Updated February 18th, 2021 at 5:09 p.m.

All St. Joe’s healthcare workers who received the first dose of the vaccine (Priority 1 and some Priority 2) have received or have been booked to receive the second dose. Remaining second doses will all be administered on or by Feb. 25^th. If you have received the first dose and have not received a text or email scheduling you for the second dose, please contact covidvaccination@hhsc.ca or call 905-381-7055.

We plan to resume scheduling first dose of the vaccine for our highest priority groups on Feb. 26.

Vaccination of ALC patients and second dose for healthcare workers

Last Updated February 11th, 2021 at 10:31 a.m.

We are pleased to report that 32 Alternate Level of Care (ALC) patients at St. Joe’s received the vaccination against COVID-19 on Wednesday, Feb. 10. ALC patients at Hamilton Health Sciences will receive the vaccine Feb. 11.

Additionally, patients from the Satellite Health Facility will be vaccinated this week. This is great news for our vulnerable patient population, many of whom will be going to Long-Term Care facilities.

The Hamilton vaccination clinic is providing second dose administration to healthcare workers, including staff, physicians, residents and learners from Hamilton Health Sciences and St. Joe’s between February 10 and 14. These appointments fall between 35 and 42 days after injection of the first dose, as directed by the Province.

Planning for the resumption of first doses also continues, based on the HHS and St. Joe’s Sequencing Framework and when the supply of vaccines become more stable over the next few weeks. At this time, we have not received Provincial Direction to resume first doses for our teams. 

We continue to work with our partners at Public Health and the community to support Hamilton’s overall vaccination program. We will pursue our advocacy efforts to ensure that all staff, physicians, residents and learners who wish to be vaccinated, receive the vaccine as soon as possible.

We thank everyone for their collaboration.

Update: Rescheduling appointments for the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine

Last Updated February 5th, 2021 at 6:25 p.m.

The schedulers at the vaccination clinic are now booking deferred second dose appointments. 

We need your help and cooperation

We need everyone’s cooperation to ensure that healthcare workers from hospitals, LTC facilities and high-risk retirement homes, receive their second dose within the timeframe of 35 to 42 days after getting their first injection. This gives us very little flexibility in ensuring everyone gets their second dose in the prescribed interval. 

Can I reschedule my appointment?

Due to the volume of appointments to be booked, we are asking that everyone keep the appointment time scheduled by the clinic. There will be very limited exceptions to rescheduling an appointment as noted below. 

• Someone scheduled for an appointment to receive the second dose is ill, exhibits COVID-like symptoms or is self-isolation as mandated by public health or Occupational health and Safety (OHS), on that day.
• Someone faces an unexpected and/or unavoidable life event on that day. This can include, for example, scheduled surgeries or medical appointments/examinations.  
• If at all possible, we expect staff, physicians, residents and learners to do everything possible to manage any personal scheduling conflict.
• Someone is scheduled for an appointment but cannot make it because they are working and their absence would leave their unit in a critical staffing shortage.

What's expected

In addition, everyone booked for a second dose is expected to: 

• Ensure they can attend the appointment by making the necessary arrangements to be able to do so.
• If they are scheduled to be working on the day of the appointment, they should contact their managers as soon as possible after the date has been set, to make arrangements to attend their appointment. 
• Leaders across SJHH are asked to do everything possible to accommodate.  

After the second injection

After receiving their second dose of the COVID vaccine, healthcare workers should closely monitor their health.

• Those who develop symptoms, such as low-grade fever, fatigue/myalgia or headache, within 48 hours after receiving the vaccine, must contact OHS (via email or the COVID Hotline at ext. 36131) for further advice. 
• While these non-specific symptoms are expected after vaccination, OHS will arrange for a COVID test to rule out COVID-19 infection. 
• Anyone experiencing additional symptoms to those listed above, must contact OHS to arrange for a COVID test and remain at home while waiting for the result.

Everyone's collaboration to ensure second dose injections proceed as smoothly as possible, is greatly appreciated.

Rescheduling appointments for the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine

Last Updated February 4th, 2021 at 4:44 p.m.

The vaccination clinic has now rebooked second dose appointments for hospital staff, physicians and learners that were originally scheduled for January 27 to 31. These second dose appointments now take place between February 10 and 14. These appointments for the second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine fall within the 35 to 42 days interval.

The vaccination clinic is sending notification by email and/or text about the rescheduled appointment dates and times. Anyone who had an appointment for a second dose between January 27 and 31 and has NOT yet been contacted to rebook, should email cancelvac@hhsc.ca or call: 905-381-7055.

More information on vaccination scheduling for the remaining second doses will be distributed in the near future when more details on vaccine supplies are shared with our hospital.