Queensway Carleton Hospital ready to open COVID-19 vaccination clinic

Queensway Carleton Hospital (QCH) says it's finished preparing a COVID-19 vaccination clinic in its facility, and is ready to open it in support of the regional vaccination rollout.

The clinic is expected to help the city expand access to the vaccine, once supply ramps up.

QCH will administer the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as it has the necessary space and equipment to safely house it onsite. 

“Our vaccine clinic will help with the speed and efficiency of the vaccine rollout in Ottawa,” says Joe Dagenais, pharmacy director and lead for the vaccine clinic. “Our staff retrofitted an area of the hospital into a fully functional vaccine clinic, complete with its own entrance. We have completed dry runs of patient flow and are ready to go. We wanted to ensure everyone felt safe when they came for their appointments.”

The clinic will be operated by QCH physicians, nurses, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and volunteers.

QCH is working with Ottawa Public Health and other regional health partners to facilitate the administration of the vaccines. The hospital says appointments will be contingent on the availability of the vaccine in Ottawa and will be booked by QCH to groups identified by Ontario's COVID-19 Vaccination Program. Appointments are not available for the general public at this time.

“It's a minor miracle we have such an effective vaccine available so soon after COVID-19 was identified. It is safe and effective – and it's a good step towards helping our community get some normalcy back,” says Dr. Andrew Falconer, QCH President and CEO. “While we all still have work to do, this vaccine gives us all a little hope for the future.”

In the meantime, QCH will continue to support vaccination strike teams to higher-risk groups in the community.