No appointment needed: Walk-ins accepted for 1st vaccine doses in Windsor-Essex

No appointment? No problem — the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit is now allowing walk-ins at its COVID-19 mass vaccination sites for those who have yet to receive a shot.

The health unit said Wednesday that first doses of COVID-19 vaccine are available without an appointment (as supply allows) at the five mass vaccination sites in Windsor-Essex.

People in all age groups are eligible.

Appointments are still recommended, however, and can be booked online through WEvax.ca.

Chatham-Kent Public Health is also offering first doses without an appointment, while in Sarnia-Lambton, the public health unit has set up a standby list to fill any last-minute appointment openings.

The new pathway comes as Windsor-Essex lags slightly behind the province on the percentage of adults vaccinated.

As of Wednesday, 79.5 per cent of adults across Ontario are vaccinated with at least one dose, while locally the proportion is 75.8 per cent. The local vaccination rate for youth is 51.3 per cent, while across Ontario it's 61 per cent.

Dr. Wajid Ahmed, medical officer of health, said Monday that the difference could reflect the number of residents who received their vaccines in the U.S. and are not captured in Ontario's data. WECHU opened an online portal for residents vaccinated stateside to register their doses earlier this week.

On second doses, Windsor-Essex is slightly ahead of the rest of the province, at 60.1 per cent versus 58.4 per cent.