Hamilton residents find no COVID-19 shots available on 1st day of age 18+ eligibility

"Today's the day!" That was the message from the City of Hamilton on Tuesday morning as COVID-19 vaccination eligibility opened up for Ontarians 18 and older — but many who logged on to sign up found no appointments available.

Hamilton Public Health Service's tweet soon had more than a dozen responses from frustrated people who had been hoping to register through Ontario's online portal, then found zero availability in Hamilton.

Vanessa Matos, 28, said she's been patiently waiting to become eligible, so when it was announced she could get a shot, she was excited.

But after logging on to the portal, that excitement turned to dismay.

"I checked all the way into next year … just because I was like 'are people booking that far ahead?'" she said. She tried again and again, even checking other areas all the way to Mississauga to see if they had appointments available.

"I was kind of crestfallen," she said. "Either something's wrong with the site or there are no vaccines available. So that was pretty disappointing."

A CBC News reporter who called the Ontario hotline was told every appointment in the city was booked and to call back Thursday.

Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, Hamilton's medical officer of health, said Monday appointments are still available in May and more would be opened up in June.

The expanded eligibility has created a surge in demand for available appointments. We encourage everyone to keep checking back. In time, everyone will have the opportunity to book an appointment.- Hamilton Public Health Service

"The actual appointment is still going to likely take a couple of weeks or more," she said during a media update.

In a statement to CBC News on Tuesday morning, public health said it will be adding more appointments in the coming days as more vaccine supply becomes available.

"We appreciate that many people are trying to book vaccine appointments and are frustrated," it said. "The expanded eligibility has created a surge in demand for available appointments.

"We encourage everyone to keep checking back. In time, everyone will have the opportunity to book an appointment."

While the city's vaccine sites appear booked up, residents can continue to arrange appointments at pharmacies, and Winterberry Family Medicine practice in Hamilton continues to offer Moderna vaccinations.

That's where Matos said she ended up finding an appointment after seeing someone post about it on Twitter.

She said she's been following vaccine updates regularly while waiting her turn and has been paying attention to information shared online. But she worries about people not on social media or who aren't as comfortable using technology.

"You shouldn't have to scroll through Twitter ... trying to find a vaccine," she said.

"A lot of people aren't on Twitter in the first place. They might not know those resources are there. I do feel really bad for people who are going about it, sort of in the old-fashioned way, and not getting anywhere."

Matos also said the message from the city announcing shots Monday morning was a bit of a double blow.

"To be like, 'OK, tomorrow's the day, 8 a.m., get ready' and then to just have nothing ... you're getting our hopes up here. There's not a lot to hope for these days and that's not making it easy."

More regions say supply doesn't meet demand

Hamilton isn't alone when it comes to vaccine issues.

Officials in other areas, including the Niagara Region, anticipated similar problems.

"Eligibility is expanding far more quickly than the supply of vaccine," Dr. Mustafa Hirji, the region's acting medical officer of health, wrote on Twitter on Monday evening.

While pharmacies are also offering vaccines, "we'll be nowhere in the ballpark," he said.

The issue isn't that the region's share of the vaccine supply is low, said Hirji, noting it's "proportional to most of the province." 

Instead, he pointed to Ontario's decisions during the pandemic.

"The mismatch of eligibility & supply is province-wide, reflecting provincial policy decisions," he wrote in a follow-up tweet.

Dr. Chris Mackie, medical officer of health for London, also posted on social media about the issue, saying Monday night that a "last-ditch effort" to get more doses before eligibility opened up had failed.

"This means we have 24K appointments for ~135K people," he tweeted, urging those not able to sign up right away to try again. 

"I'm sorry in advance for the frustrating situation of limited vaccine supply."