Ottawa-area health unit 1st in province to hit 90% fully vaccinated

An Ottawa-area health unit has become the first in the province to have 90 per cent of its eligible residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit announced in a press release Tuesday the day it publicly updates its vaccine figures it had arrived at that "significant milestone."

The 90 per cent vaccination rate for people born in 2009 or earlier is a full 10 percentage points higher than Ontario's overall average, and seven points above the vaccination percentage in the nation's capital.

The reasons behind the strong numbers vary, said Rebecca Kavanagh, acting director for the health unit's healthy living and development department.

They rangefrom municipalities opening the doors of community centres and arenas for clinics, she said,to paramedics seeking out people who can't get to a vaccination site themselves.

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"All of these efforts have helped to bring vaccine close to where people live," Kavanagh said in a statement.

The health unit's communities includeBrockville, Smiths Falls, Perth, Gananoqueand Mississippi Mills. As of Tuesday, it still had 15known active cases of COVID-19,but zero outbreaks.