PHOTOS: COVID-19 vaccination clinic officially opens at Quinte Sports and Wellness Centre

While Belleville’s newest COVID-19 vaccination clinic has been administering doses for a few days, members of the media and other dignitaries got a chance to tour the site at the Quinte Sports and Wellness Centre, during its official opening on Thursday.

Public Health Nurse Debbie Abbott walked through the steps to get a vaccination, from arrival and screening, to actually receiving the shot and the 15-minute post-inoculation evaluation time.

Anyone who has an appointment at the clinic (in the Family Dental Centre Arena) would arrive to the outside door and be screened for symptoms once inside. Then, they present their health card and are assigned a seat on the arena floor, where they wait for a nurse to come to them and deliver the shot.

Various safety protocols are in place, including any medications and equipment that might be needed in order to deal with a rare adverse reaction to the shot. There is even a privacy screen that can be pulled out, to cover up anyone who might be anxious about getting the shot in a public place.

As of Thursday June 3, the clinic was administering about 1,000 doses a day, but Hastings Prince Edward Medical Officer of Health Dr. Piotr Oglaza says that could ramp up to a maximum of 2,500 doses a day, as long as vaccine supplies allow.

The doses are stored in a freezer at the HPE Public Health Office on North Park Street and are delivered to the QSWC clinic once a day.

The clinic is currently running six days a week, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., though there is one evening shift per week, in order to make vaccines more accessible for people who can’t get there during the normal hours.

Dr. Oglaza says as more doses arrive in the area, they do plan to increase the schedule to seven days a week.

You can book your appointment by clicking here, or calling the Provincial Booking Hotline at 1-833-943-3900 (TTY for people who are deaf, hearing-impaired or speech-impaired: 1-866-797-0007).