Waterloo Region's largest COVID-19 vaccine clinic winding down operations

KITCHENER -

The COVID-19 vaccine clinic located on Pinebush Road in Cambridge will start to wind down operations in September.

Starting Sept. 4, the clinic will operate two days a week: Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The clinic will continue to offer first and second doses of Pfizer or Moderna.

The clinic will be closed Sept. 1 to 3, and the new hours come into effect on Sept. 4.

“I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who’s helped make the Cambridge Pinebush vaccination clinic an enormous success,” Vickie Murray, operations lead for the region’s vaccine task force, said in a news release. “From the beginning of the vaccine rollout when we began immunizing health care professionals and our most vulnerable residents at the hospital, until more recently when we’ve been vaccinating thousands of residents every week at the Cambridge Pinebush site, hundreds of clinic staff and volunteers have made an important life-saving impact on the residents of our community. I would especially like to thank all the physicians, pharmacists, nurses, administrative staff, students and volunteers from Grand River Hospital and other organizations across Waterloo Region who can celebrate the overwhelming success of the Cambridge Pinebush vaccination clinic.”

The clinic has the capacity to administer up to 3,000 doses per day. The region said the clinic could also ramp up operations in the future if needed.

The Pinebush clinic will honour all appointments until Sept. 7.

Starting Sept. 8, the region will eliminate its online booking system for clinics at Pinebush and The Boardwalk. Instead, vaccines will only be available on a walk-in basis.

Anyone who has an appointment after Sept. 7 has been contacted.

The region said an Indigenous immunizer will be at the Pinebush clinic every Wednesday to answer questions about health, culture and vaccine hesitancy.