Vaccine Information for Physicians

Temperature logs are submitted electronically through the online order form. Public Health will only accept scanned PDFs or photos (jpg format) of temperature logs (PDF file). Please note that the submission must be for one full month leading up to the order date

Vaccine orders submitted on the Wednesday prior to a scheduled delivery date will be processed and delivered for the next scheduled bi-weekly delivery date.

Please note: If you have missed the delivery and will need the vaccines more urgently (e.g. high risk vaccines, post exposure prophylaxis), please call 311 or email accesshalton@halton.ca.

The Health Care Provider Vaccine Order Form (PDF file) must be used when ordering vaccines for clients who meet the High Risk eligibility criteria, but the vaccine cannot be ordered through the online ordering system. This also includes clients for whom vaccination is recommended as part of case and contact management.

All other vaccine orders must be placed through the online ordering system.

Vaccine Storage and Handling Guidelines (external PDF) require that healthcare providers storing publicly funded vaccines meet specific requirements. If the bi-weekly vaccine distribution schedule will cause issues related to appropriate storage and inventory practices, please call 311 or email accesshalton@halton.ca to discuss options.

North Halton (Milton and Halton Hills) Vaccine Distribution Schedule - Delivery

North Halton (Milton and Halton Hills) Vaccine Distribution Schedule - Pick-Up

South Halton (Burlington and Oakville) Vaccine Distribution Schedule - Delivery

South Halton (Burlington and Oakville) Vaccine Distribution Schedule - Pick-Up

Each municipality will receive bi-weekly vaccine deliveries. Routine, special, COVID-19 and high risk vaccines must be ordered online on the Wednesday prior to scheduled delivery dates. Refer to Vaccine Distribution for bi-weekly delivery schedule.

Vaccine orders submitted on the Wednesday prior to a scheduled delivery date will be processed and delivered for the next scheduled bi-weekly delivery date.

Please note: If vaccines are needed urgently (e.g. high risk vaccines, post exposure prophylaxis), please call 311 or email accesshalton@halton.ca.

Vaccines will be delivered on your scheduled delivery date listed on the Halton Region Public Health vaccine delivery schedule. Vaccines will be delivered between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. by Critical Path Courier. We are unable to provide a specific time for each office as the courier plans their route based on the number of deliveries in the area and what the most efficient route is.

Please ensure there is a staff member to receive the vaccines between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. If no staff member is present to receive the delivery, vaccines will be returned to Halton Regional Centre (HRC). They will be delivered again on your next scheduled bi-weekly delivery date.

Vaccine orders that are unable to be delivered on the scheduled delivery date will be returned to Halton Regional Centre and will be sent on your next scheduled delivery date. If you need to cancel your scheduled vaccine delivery, please call 311 or email accesshalton@halton.ca for options.

Using a courier to receive vaccines is a convenient option for many healthcare professionals that saves staff time and expenses while protecting the integrity of the vaccines and the cold chain process. Critical Path (the vaccine courier service) uses temperature controlled vans, which helps to ensure that cold chain is maintained during transportation. Many clinics prefer couriered vaccines due to staff time and the associated costs of pick up.

The cost to use the vaccine courier is approximately $35 per delivery. All facilities in Halton are charged the same rate.

Public Health will continue to pay for the flu auto shipments, which are made at the beginning of the flu season, while clinics will pay for the delivery of vaccines they order.

Facilities that would like to continue receiving their vaccines through Critical Path will need to complete an Account Activation Form (PDF file) and send to ar@criticalpath.ca. You will be asked to provide credit card information for billing. If there is information on the Account Activation Form that you would prefer to provide over the phone rather than email (e.g. credit card information), please write “call for information” in the form field. Critical Path will contact you to collect this information over the phone.

If you have questions about the Account Activation form or the account set up process, please contact Critical Path at ar@criticalpath.ca or 905-212- 8333.

Only facilities that have an account with a courier service will be able to select courier as an option from the Online Vaccine Ordering form.

If you have an existing arrangement with a courier service, you can continue to use it or you can transition to Halton Region’s courier service by establishing an account with Critical Path (PDF file).

Halton Region Public Health is strongly encouraging offices to use Critical Path for vaccine deliveries because vaccines are transported in temperature controlled vehicles. This helps to ensure that vaccines are safe and that proper cold chain is maintained during transport.

Each holding point code must order vaccines for their own facility. To avoid cold chain issues and to preserve the integrity of the vaccines, each holding point code is able to order enough vaccine for their individual clinic to last approximately one month. Ordering more than a one-month supply of vaccine can contribute to vaccine wastage in the case of power disruptions.

If your office has an account with a vaccine courier, when you place your vaccine order you will have the option to choose whether you would like to pick up your vaccine order at 1151 Bronte Road or have it delivered to your office by the vaccine courier. If you would like your order delivered by vaccine courier, you should select this from the online ordering form and your order will be delivered on your scheduled delivery day. If you would prefer to pick-up your order, you will need to select this option on the online ordering system and select a pick-up time.

Pick up your vaccine order at Halton Regional Centre, 1151 Bronte Road in Oakville (Google map). When you arrive, park on the north side of the building in either the designated spots for Health Department pick up or visitor parking in Lot I. Enter through the door labelled “STM-2B”, located across from parking lot I, beside the main loading dock. Please go to the Facilities Service Desk for vaccine pick-up. If you require an accessible entrance, please use the entrance on the east side of the building and reception will direct you to the Facilities Service Desk.

See the map attached (PDF file) for further directions on where to park and how to enter the building.

Vaccine pick-up times are:

• Tuesdays from 9 a.m. -11:30 a.m.
• Wednesdays from 9 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Each municipality will follow a bi-weekly vaccine distribution schedule. Vaccine pick-up dates will correspond with the Vaccine Distribution schedule for your municipality.

If you choose to pick up your vaccines from 1151 Bronte Road, please:

• ensure that your hard-sided insulated container is between +2.0○C and +8.0○C;
• closely follow the most recent Insulated Container section in the Vaccine Storage and Handling Guidelines (external PDF) to avoid being unable to collect your vaccines;
• ensure your hard-sided insulated container has a maximum-minimum thermometer and that you follow the Insulated Containers requirements in the Vaccine Storage and Handling Guidelines (external PDF)
• use refrigerated water blankets to ensure vaccine safety when preparing and packing an insulated container; and
• ensure that your hard-sided cooler is large enough to store your entire vaccine order. Packaging for many vaccines has changed since the start of the pandemic with pre-filled syringes becoming more common. Since pre-filled syringes take up more physical space, your vaccine order may not fit in a single hard-sided cooler.

If the Public Health Pharmacy team determines that you are not prepared to safely transport your vaccine order, you will have to return at a later date once you are able to fulfill the vaccine cold chain requirements.

Vaccine orders that are not picked up on the scheduled pick-up date will be available for pick-up on the next bi-weekly pick-up date for your municipality. If you need to cancel your pick-up date, please call 311 or email accesshalton@halton.ca for options.

The option to pick up vaccine at Joseph Brant, Georgetown, or Milton District hospitals, is no longer available. Vaccines must be picked up from the Halton Regional Centre at 1151 Bronte Road in Oakville.

Hospital vaccine pick-up has not been available since November 2020 for various reasons. Since Public Health Units are responsible for storing and distributing a large quantity of vaccines, the Ministry of Health has additional vaccine storage and handling requirements that we are required to follow. These requirements are in place to minimize the risk of vaccine wastage. Since hospitals are not required to follow the additional vaccine storage and handling requirements that public health units are required to follow, vaccines available through public health, must be picked up either at Public Health or delivered through a courier service.

Eligibility criteria has been extended for select age groups that may have missed an opportunity to receive school-based vaccines due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Learn who is currently eligible for school-based vaccines.

At this time, Public Health is unable to release school-based vaccines to physicians in bulk. All school-based vaccines released from Public Health are required to be associated with an eligible student. This information needs to be reported back to the Ministry of Health. In addition, Public Health must complete an immunization record assessment on the Provincial Immunization Database (Panorama) for each student prior to release of vaccines.

Released school-based vaccines are assigned to be administered only to the student it was approved for. There are situations where a student is no longer eligible, has received the vaccine elsewhere or has refused the vaccine. This school-based vaccine will have to be re-allocated within your practice.

If you have a student in your practice, whom you believe is eligible to receive a re-allocated school-based vaccine; Public Health (311) must be contacted first. Public Health will ensure a complete record and eligibility assessment is done and prior to re-allocating the vaccine.

This step must be done for all possible re-allocations as all school-based vaccines are required to be associated with an eligible student—this information is reported back to the Ministry of Health.

Similarly, when placing a new special order for school-based vaccines, please review your inventory first to determine if there is a dose available to be re-allocated. Public Health (311) must be contacted prior to administering dose.

• Vaccine fridge meets Ministry of Health Vaccine Storage and Handling Guidelines.
• Vaccine fridge has passed a cold chain inspection by Halton Region Public Health within the past 12 months.
• Refer to the Vaccine Storage and Handling web page for more information.

To enroll in the COVID-19 vaccine program, eligible facilities must complete a Vaccine Agreement (PDF file) and submit to covidvaccine@halton.ca using the subject line: “COVID-19 Vaccine Onboarding Program.”

All staff who will be involved with COVID-19 vaccines at your facility must review Halton Region’s COVID-19 Vaccine Onboarding Training video.

Once all required clinic staff have completed the OntarioMD: COVax training and Halton Region’s COVID-19 Vaccine Onboarding training, your facility must complete a COVax Account Registration Form (to be emailed to your facility) and submit to covidvaccine@halton.ca.

The Health Department will contact your facility directly to provide your Vaccination Event and outline next steps.

Once your facility has received its Vaccination Event and staff have activated their COVax accounts and downloaded the Salesforce Authenticator application to their personal smartphone device, COVID-19 vaccine orders can be submitted online using the Vaccine Order Form. COVID-19 vaccines will be distributed with other publicly-funded vaccines according to the Vaccine Distribution Schedule.

A COVID-19 Vaccine Inventory Report (PDF file) must be completed for each day that vaccines are administered/wasted at your facility and sent to covidvaccine@halton.ca.

• COVID-19 Vaccine-Relevant Information and Planning Resources, Ministry of Health (external link)
• COVID-19 Vaccines, Ontario Government (external link)
• Ontario College of Family Physicians COVID-19 vaccines tools and resources (external link)
• Reporting Out-of-Province COVID-19 Vaccination, Halton Region Public Health (PDF file)

• COVID-19 Vaccine: Canadian Immunization Guide (external link)
• COVID-19 Vaccine Guidance, Ministry of Health (external PDF)
• COVID-19 Vaccine Storage and Handling Guidance, Ministry of Health (external PDF)

• COVax FAQs, Resources and Support (PDF file)
• Job Aid COVax Account Setup (PDF file)
• For more information on COVaxON resources and job aids, refer to OntarioMD: COVaxON Training (external link)

• COVID-19 Vaccine Fact Sheets and Print Resources, Halton Region Public Health
• Ministry of Health COVID-19 Vaccine Consent and Notice Form (external PDF)
• COVID-19 Vaccine Inventory Report (PDF file)
• Medical Directive Resources
  • College of Nurses of Ontario: Practice Guidelines on Directives (external PDF)
  • College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario: Policy on the Delegation of Controlled Acts (external link)
  • Health Profession Regulators of Ontario: An Interprofessional Guide on the Use of Orders, Directives & Delegation for Regulated Health Professionals in Ontario (external link)
    • Health Profession Regulators of Ontario:Templates (external link)

• Report of Adverse Event Following Immunization (AEFI) form (external PDF)
• Adverse Event Following Immunization Reporting Fact Sheet (external PDF)
  • Completed forms can be faxed to Halton Region Public Health at 905-465-3403 or emailed to aefi@halton.ca

As of September 2022, all students in grades 7 to end of grade 12 will be eligible for the publicly funded Hepatitis B vaccine.

*Individuals aged 16 years to less than 19 years require a 3-dose Hep B 0.5 mL (pediatric) immunization schedule as per the Canadian Immunization Guide (external link).

Individuals who have not completed the HB series prior to age 16 must follow Table 7: Publicly Funded Immunization Schedule (external PDF) recommended intervals for remaining doses using the HB pediatric (0.5 mL) formulation.

For those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, refer to the Guidance for Routine & Catch-up Immunization Services, Ministry of Health (external PDF) for information on extended eligibility.

HPV-9 vaccine eligibility starts in grade 7 and extends to the end of grade 12 for all students, regardless of gender, as per the updated Publicly Funded Immunization Schedule.

For those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, refer to the Guidance for Routine & Catch-up Immunization Services, Ministry of Health (external PDF) for information on extended eligibility.

*Individuals aged 15 years and older require a 3-dose HPV-9 immunization schedule as per the Canadian Immunization Guide (external link).

Currently, 65-70 year olds are able to receive publicly funded Shingrix®. Seniors born in 1949, 1950, 1951, and 1952 now remain eligible to complete the 2-dose series by December 31, 2023, as per the Guidance for Routine & Catch-up Immunization Services, Ministry of Health (external PDF).

Currently, males 9 to 26 years of age who meet the high-risk criteria (Table 3: Publicly Funded Immunization Schedule (external PDF)) are eligible for 2-3 doses of Gardasil 9®.

Males born in 1993, 1994, 1995, or 1996 now remain eligible to complete the 3-dose series by December 31, 2023, as per the Guidance for Routine & Catch-up Immunization Services, Ministry of Health (external PDF). Age of the impacted cohorts falls within the Health Canada product monograph age indications for product use.

Currently 2 months to 17 year olds who meet the high-risk criteria (Table 3: Publicly Funded Immunization Schedule (external PDF)) are eligible for 2-4 doses of Bexsero®.

Individuals born in 2002, 2003, 2004, or 2005 now remain eligible to complete the 2-dose series by December 31, 2023, as per the Guidance for Routine & Catch-up Immunization Services, Ministry of Health (external PDF). Age of the impacted cohorts falls within the Health Canada product monograph age indications for product use.

Currently, 9 months to 55 year olds who meet the high-risk criteria (Table 3: Publicly Funded Immunization Schedule (external PDF)) are eligible for 2-4 doses.

Individuals born in 1964, 1965, 1966, and 1967 now remain eligible to complete the 2-4 dose series by December 31, 2023, as per the Guidance for Routine & Catch-up Immunization Services, Ministry of Health (external PDF).

The province publicly funds a single lifetime dose of Men-C-ACYW135 for individual’s ≥56 years of age who meet high-risk eligibility criteria listed in Table 3: Publicly Funded Immunization Schedule (external PDF). These individuals may not be included in the age indication listed on the product monograph for the particular publicly funded vaccine. Therefore, administration of these vaccines is off-label and clinical judgment is advised.