The North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit says the mobile vaccine bus has been parked for the winter so will not be available as an option for future COVID-19 vaccine adult or child clinics in the region.
You can thank Mother Nature for that.
"At this time we are not using the mobile bus because of weather concerns," said, Andrea McLellan, head of the immunization strategy for the Health Unit during last week's North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit media zoom call.
"A lot of the process that is used for mobile bus involves individuals being outside and with the colder weather coming and potential snow and such, having staff and the public waiting in lines and working outside the bus in inclement weather did not make a lot of sense so it is off the road for now but certainly open for discussions to put it back on the road once the winter weather is over with," added McLellan who is retiring this month.
The accessible and convenient mobile clinic started travelling across the Health Unit’s district on August 31 to help reduce barriers to getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
The bus was introduced at a press conference in late August outside the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit
See related: New vaccine bus ready to roll
Dr. Jim Chirico, chief medical officer at the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit credits the city of North Bay for helping make the mobile vaccine bus project a reality
"I would like to send a big shout out and thanks to mayor Al McDonald and the city as well as all the people who work there who made it possible for us to have this bus and it was tremendously successful; we were able to reach out some really hard to reach areas and people, and we want to thank the city for all the work they did with us as it was a great community partnership so thank you."
