People residing in HPEC who are currently eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations but do not have a booked vaccination appointment can now register from Saturday at 4:00 pm to Wednesday at noon to be on standby for the week’s clinics.

The schedule for the week of May 9 to May 15 is:

• Monday May 10, 9 am to 3:45 pm at Belleville-Loyalist Clinic
• Tuesday May 11, 12 pm to 6:45 pm at Belleville-Loyalist Clinic
• Wednesday May 12, 10 am to 3:45 pm at Madoc Clinic
• Wednesday May 12, 9 am to 3:45 pm at Belleville-Loyalist Clinic
• Thursday May 13, 9 am to 3:45 pm at Picton Clinic
• Thursday May 13 , 9 am to 3:45 pm at Belleville-Loyalist Clinic
• Friday May 14, 9 am to 3:45 pm at Belleville-Loyalist Clinic
• Thursday May 13, 9 am to 3:45 pm at Trenton Clinic
• Friday May 14, 9 am to 3:45 pm at Trenton Clinic

If you would like to be on a Standby List for any of these clinics, please read the information below.

Information About HPEPH’s Weekly Vaccine Standby List

To ensure the efficient use of vaccine, HPEPH brings only enough vaccine for the number of scheduled appointments at a clinic. When people do not show up for their scheduled appointments, HPEPH has the opportunity to offer standby appointments to eligible individuals.

To date, Standby Lists of eligible individuals have been created manually. In order to streamline this process and ensure these last-minute appointments are available to those who need them most, HPEPH is starting a weekly Standby List for individuals who qualify as Phase 1 and Phase 2 priority groups who do not already have an appointment scheduled.

Eligible Groups

Eligible groups for the standby list include outstanding individuals who do not already have an appointment scheduled:

• Health care or personal support workers
• Licensed childcare workers
• Education workers (including special education)
• Residents and staff in care homes and group living settings (including essential caregivers)
• People with highest-risk health conditions and their caregivers (for example, pregnancy, organ transplant, multiple sclerosis)
• People with high risk health conditions (for example, BMI of over 40, chemotherapy, Down syndrome)
• Chronic home health care recipients
• First Nations, Inuit and Métis individuals, including members of their household
• People who cannot work from home (Group One), which includes
  • Agriculture and farm workers
  • Enforcement, inspection and compliance roles (by-law enforcement, building inspectors, food inspectors, border inspection officers, labour inspectors, and WSIB field workers)
  • Foster care agency workers (including customary care providers)
  • Food manufacturing and distribution workers
  • Funeral, crematory, and cemetery workers
  • Workers responding to critical events (police, fire, special constables, children’s aid society workers, infrastructure restoration workers)
• Individuals turning 50 and over in 2021

Please note, to ensure standby appointments are prioritized appropriately, registrants must:

• have not received a first dose (this process is for first doses only)
• not have an appointment scheduled for their first dose
• be able to be at the designated clinic site with 30 minutes notice, if invited.

Applying for the standby list does not mean you will get an appointment that week.

Due to efficiency processes in place, last minute cancellations and no-shows are very limited. Please continue to check booking opportunities both through the provincial booking system and local pharmacies. HPEPH continues to encourage individuals to take advantage of the first possible opportunity to get vaccinated.

To ensure these appointments are prioritized appropriately, walk-ins that have not been invited through this standby list process will be turned away at HPEPH clinic sites.

How does it work?

Step 1: Check that you are currently eligible for HPEPH’s Weekly Vaccine Standby List. Anyone currently eligible for COVID-19 vaccination at HPEPH community clinics, who does not have an appointment booked, can register.

Step 2: Every week from Saturday at 4:00 pm to Monday at 4:00 pm a form will appear on this webpage. Sign up using your name, email and other required information, and select the clinic location(s) that you will be able to get to with 30 minutes notice.

Selection for the standby will be based on prioritization. It’s not about being the first person to sign up during this timeframe. Whether you sign up at 9:32 a.m. or at 3:58 p.m., it doesn’t matter.

Step 3: On Monday at 4:00 p.m. the list will close for the week.

Step 4: When last minute appointment vacancies are anticipated at a clinic, our team will select people from this list and will notify them by phone when there is a dose available at their selected location.

Step 5: Phone calls to selected individuals will be made after 12:30 pm for a late afternoon appointment the same day.

Step 6: The people who receive the invitation will arrive at the assigned clinic location and time. Identification will be requested to confirm their identity and eligibility.

The list is new each week. You must fill in the form each week that you’d like to be considered for a standby dose.

A long list of really important things to know about the standby list.

The Basics:

• We realize this standby system will not be convenient or doable for everyone. It is not a way for vaccines to reach a large number of people. It is a way to ensure any last-minute appointment vacancies are used to help us to reach the most critical priority groups.
• Don’t sign up if you’ve already had a first dose or already have an appointment booked. Please. It will slow down our vaccine clinic team, and make this process more difficult for everyone.
  • If have received your first dose, but you don’t have an appointment scheduled for your second dose, please pre-register and we will notify you when booking becomes available.
• Every week is a new week and a new list, and you must enter your name on the list again if you are available and interested in standing by that week. You can sign up every week if you want. But each week only sign up once. Signing up more than once will not increase your chance of getting a call, it just causes us more work.
• Please do not come to an HPEPH clinic unless you get a phone call that tells you to come. People who are not invited by phone will be asked to leave.
• For those invited to the Belleville-Loyalist clinic, there is a possibility that you may not receive a dose when you attend. If this happens, you will be offered the first available extra dose on the next clinic day.
• HPEPH clinics may be offering Pfizer, Moderna, or AstraZeneca vaccine. By registering on this list, HPEPH expects that you are willing to receive any of these vaccination options to ensure not one dose is wasted.
• People who younger than 40 will not be offered an appointment if the clinic will be providing AstraZeneca that day.

What happens when you are selected?

• Individuals who are selected will be contacted by phone from 12:30 – 3:30 pm.
• If you do not pick up the phone when we call, we will move on to the next person. We will not leave a message.
  • If you miss our call, your name will remain on the list for the rest of the week and you may be called again should another appointment become available.
• When we connect, you can accept or decline the opportunity based on your availability that day.
  • If you accept, please arrive at the designated time. If you are late, you may be turned away.
  • If you decline, your name will remain on the list for the rest of the week, and you may be called again should another appointment become available.

Keep trying to book an appointment.

• The best way for you to get a vaccine is to book an appointment as soon as they become available.
• If you are eligible for direct booking, or have received a booking code as an eligible priority group, please book the earliest appointment that becomes available. Do not rely on a call from the Standby List.
• If you belong to a priority group and have not pre-registered, please do so. This is a how you get a booking code that allows you to schedule an appointment when your priority group becomes eligible.
• Check the Provincial Vaccine Booking system regularly. New appointments are added regularly. We also will post the availability status on our social media channels to keep you informed.
• If you are aged 40 or older you can also book a vaccine at a local pharmacy.

Remember the chance of getting an appointment through the Standby List is really very small. Applying for the Standby List is your choice and filling in the form does not guarantee you an appointment.

*Effective April 23, 2021, the province has added pregnancy to the list of highest risk health conditions. Individuals with highest risk health conditions can book directly through the provincial call centre at 1-888-999-6488. It is recommended (but not required) that those who are pregnant discuss COVID-19 vaccination with their health care provider prior to booking an appointment. Individuals with highest risk health conditions who are unable to secure an appointment are invited to use the standby list.