Rideau-Rockcliffe Family Medicine

COVID vaccination has been proven to be safe and extremely effective at reducing illness, hospitalization, ICU admission and death.

Please get vaccinated to protect yourself, your family and your community.

Vaccine Pop-Up Clinics

Thursday September 16 –Richcraft Sensplex

813 Shefford Road
3 pm to 7 pm

Friday, September 17 – Richcraft

736 Brian Good Ave
9 am to 2 pm

Saturday September 18 – Finnigan’s Pub

347 Montreal Road
9 am to 3 pm

Neighbourhood Vaccine Hubs

Neighbourhood Vaccine Hubs are now open to provide access to residents 12 yrs and older who are wanting their first or second dose of the COVID vaccine. As well, a Public Health Nurse is available if you just want to come in and ask questions or get more information about COVID vaccines. No appointment needed. Drop-ins welcome. Please see below for locations and hours.

Individuals served:

• First doses are available for any resident aged 12 years of age or older at the time of vaccination.
• Second doses are available for any resident aged 12 years of age or older who received their first dose of an mRNA vaccine at least 28 days before their appointment. Residents who received their first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine can receive an mRNA vaccine after 56 days.

Vaccinations Offered:

• Pfizer-BioNtech (age 12 or older) and/or Moderna (age 18 or older)

Get COVID-19 vaccine updates in your inbox!  Sign up for the COVID-19 vaccination update e-subscription for regular news on the vaccine roll-out.

Please do not call our office regarding the COVID vaccine. We need to keep our phone lines free for patients with immediate medical needs. Your best resource is the Ottawa Public Health website (link below). 

We recommend taking the first vaccine offered to you.

• People 12 years of age or older who received their first dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine
  • Can schedule a second dose appointment that is at least 28 days after their first dose.
  • Please note: Appointments can be made through the provincial booking system or at a participating pharmacy. If you live in an eligible neighbourhood, you can also receive your vaccine at a pop-up clinic.
• Individuals who received their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine
  • Can contact the pharmacy or primary care provider where they received their first dose if they would like a second dose of AstraZeneca at least 8-12 weeks after their first dose.
  • Can schedule a second dose appointment to receive an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine at least 8-12 weeks after their first dose.
• People 12 years of age and older in First Nations, Métis and Inuit populations who received their first dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine
  • Can schedule a second dose appointment that is at least 28 days after their first dose at a First Nations, Inuit and Métis clinic.
• People unable to leave their home because of a health condition or special needs who received their first dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine
  • Can schedule a second dose appointment that is at least 28 days after their first dose.

VACCINE SAFETY:

This is data from approximately 1.7M people in Israel recently published. You can see that getting infected (orange) puts you at higher risk of arrhythmias, kidney injury, blood clots (deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism), heart inflammation (myocarditis and pericarditis), heart attacks (myocardial infarction), and brain bleeds (intracranial hemorrhage). Vaccines DO increase your risk of shingles (herpes zoster infection) and lymph node swelling.

AstraZeneca vaccines

For those who received the AstraZeneca as their first vaccine, rest assured that you did the right thing! The the reason for the pause of AstraZeneca rollout as a first vaccine was multifactorial (including an increased supply of mRNA vaccines and declining COVID numbers). You took an extremely effective vaccine, decreasing your risk of illness, hospitalization and death, and contributing to the decreasing transmission of COVID in our community. The overall risk of blood clots remains very low (estimated 1.7: 100,000 based on Ontario data and 1: 1 million for 2^nd doses based on UK data).

Please do not phone or email the clinic in regard to COVID vaccines.  

Information on vaccines:

• Understanding the blood clot issue behind the AstraZeneca vaccine and its safety: www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2021/04/17/understanding-the-blood-clot-issue
• Society of Obstetrics & Gynecology recommendations for COVID vaccination in pregnant patients: sogc.org/common/Uploaded%20files/Latest%20News/SOGC_Statement_COVID-19_Vaccination_in_Pregnancy.pdf
• Answers to vaccine questions for patients over 80: https://www.ontariofamilyphysicians.ca/tools-resources/covid-19-resources/covid-19-vaccines/covid-vax-80plus-qa.pdf 
• Short patient education videos developed by healthcare workers https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUKIRxHVLkEUm727UtibHSg
• Ontario Ministry of Health vaccine information https://covid-19.ontario.ca/getting-covid-19-vaccine-ontario#phase-1