Brampton businesses stepped up and provided on-site vaccination clinics during earlier vaccination efforts. Now, the Province is again asking for your help, and has published guidelines below to assist you in determining if you are in a position to offer on-site vaccination:
Clinics are set up, operated and funded by participating employers to vaccinate employees aged 18 and over, their families, retirees, as well as members of the local and neighbouring communities.
Employers must:
- provide health human resources (onsite or contracted nurses, doctors or other regulated health professionals who can administer vaccines);
- have a facility, or can arrange for an alternative facility in the community, such as a community hall or warehouse, to run a vaccine clinic safely; and
- offer vaccination to eligible workers and community members.
Employers are encouraged to contact the province to discuss eligibility to operate a workplace or community clinic. An information line has been set up to answer questions and assess a company’s capability to implement workplace and community clinics. To know whether your business is eligible, please call the Ontario Together Contact Centre at 1-888-777-0554.
The Province thanks the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and members for your continued support and interest in setting up employer vaccine clinics.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is involved in running a clinic?
The employer is responsible for planning, implementation, and funding. The type of work involved in running a clinic includes:
- Pre-planning, such as creating an operational playbook.
- Communications, for instance, ensuring the community is aware of the opportunity, developing written materials and signage, and connecting with community stakeholders.
- All logistics and oversight of the clinic, for example, ensuring infection prevention and control, hiring, scheduling and managing health care workers to administer vaccines, implementing vaccine consent processes, managing volunteers and parking management.
- Vaccine receiving, storage and movement, for example, inventory management, planning and receiving shipments and onsite storage.
- I.T., data and reporting, including the ability to run the provincial data management system and manage process for data collection/data entry.
- site and clinic security, for example, consulting with the OPP and/or local police; implementing required security measures and establishing protocols for emergency situations.
How much does it cost to run a clinic?
- The actual costs for employers will vary depending on various factors such as infrastructure, human resources, and local needs.
- The clinics will provide capacity to help vaccinate more people quickly as the province accelerates the rollout of booster doses.
What happens if I meet most of the criteria but am not able to cover the cost? Will the government provide me funding?
- To host an employer-led clinic you must be able to set-up, operate and fund the clinic. There is no government funding available for these clinics.
- Vaccines supply will be provided by the province, as well as access and training to the provincial data management system.
- The clinics will provide capacity to help vaccinate more people quickly as the province accelerates the rollout of booster doses.
Do employers need to purchase vaccines?
- There is no cost to the employer for the actual vaccine doses. Vaccines will be provided by the Province.
What is the process to obtain vaccines?
- If your organization qualifies for the program, a program representative from the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade will contact you to discuss next steps, including the process to request vaccine supply.
How many employees and community members do we need to vaccinate?
- The specific doses allocated per clinic will be assessed based on local needs.
- Employers must have an operational plan that clearly outlines their capacity to vaccinate the local community and eligible employees.
If my business does not meet the criteria to host an employer-led vaccine clinic, can I help with the rollout of booster doses in another way?
- To know whether your business is eligible or to provide information on other ways to help with the booster dose rollout, please call the Ontario Together Contact Centre at 1-888-777-0554.
- If your organization does not meet the eligibility criteria, the province encourages employers to support employees in receiving booster dose through another vaccination channel, such as through time off for booster doses.
