Province Expands Vaccine Eligibility to Group Two Essential Workers

Monday, 10 May 2021 09:17

Group Two essential workers will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine starting tomorrow. This includes restaurant workers, grocery store employees, bank tellers and veterinarians.

ONTARIO - Grocery store workers, restaurant employees and bus drivers will soon be able to book an appointment to receive their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Starting tomorrow, those who are classified as Group Two essential workers will be eligible for the shot. This includes the following;

- Essential and critical retail workers (including grocery, foodbank, pharmacy, ServiceOntario, ServiceCanada, Passport Canada, wholesalers and general goods, restaurant, LCBO workers)

- Workers in manufacturing industries directly involved in supporting the COVID-19 response, construction (including infrastructure) and other essential businesses and services where facilities are at heightened risk for COVID-19 outbreaks and spread

- Social workers and social services staff who provide in-person client services (including youth justice workers, Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program case workers)

- Courts and justice system workers (including probation and parole workers)

- Transportation, warehousing and distribution workers (including public transit workers, truck drivers supporting essential services, marine and rail cargo and maintenance, highway maintenance)

- Electricity (including system operations, generation, transmission, distribution and storage workers)

- Communications infrastructure workers (including cellular, satellite, landline, internet, public safety radio)

- Water and wastewater management workers

- Financial services workers (bank branch staff)

- Veterinarians and veterinary teams

- Waste management workers

- Oil and petroleum workers (including petroleum refineries, crude oil and petroleum storage, transmission and distribution, retail sale of fuel)

- Natural gas and propane gas workers (including compression, storage, transmission and distribution of natural gas and propane)

- Mine workers (including those needed to ensure the continued operation of active mines)

- Uranium processing workers (those working in the refining and conversion of uranium and fabrication of fuel for nuclear power plants)

Individuals with high risk health conditions such as dementia, diabetes and sickle cell disease will also be eligible for the vaccine as of 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning.

Starting this Thursday morning, people 40 and over living in non-hot spot areas will be able to book their vaccine appointment. The province lowered the minimum age requirement for hot spot areas down to 18 last week.

Pharmacies in hot spot areas will now be able to administer the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. They will be distributed to close to 80 pharmacies in Toronto and Peel and up 60 pharmacies in the Hamilton, Durham, York, Ottawa and Windsor-Essex regions.

You can find more information regarding local vaccine eligibility on the Southwestern Public Health website. Those who are eligible for the vaccine can also book their appointment online here.