Ontario pays for the vaccines on its routine schedule, and for a flu shot for anyone from six months of age who lives, works or studies in the province. What nobody does for you is tell Peel Public Health you came. An unreported dose looks exactly like a missing one when a school checks the record.
What the visit covers
- Seasonal flu shot, free from six months of age
- COVID-19 vaccine, in the same appointment if you want it
- Tetanus and diphtheria boosters every ten years, and Tdap once in adulthood
- Tdap in every pregnancy, and the maternal RSV dose at 32 to 36 weeks
- Shingles before the window closes at 70, and what starts at 65 and 75
- Catch-up doses when a record has gaps, or came from another country
- Reporting a child's doses to Peel so the school register matches
- Checking what you are eligible for, and what is in stock, before you come in
What adults are due, and how a dose gets onto the record
Adults, publicly funded. Tetanus and diphtheria every ten years. Tdap once in adulthood. Flu and COVID-19 each autumn. Pneumococcal at 65, shingles as a two-dose series between 65 and 70, RSV at 75. The infant, toddler, Grade 7 and 14-year doses are set out on the children's page.
Between 60 and 74, RSV is funded for a defined list: residents of long-term care homes, Elder Care Lodges and retirement homes; hospital patients receiving alternate level of care; people on hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis; recipients of a solid organ or stem cell transplant; people with glomerulonephritis who are moderately to severely immunocompromised; people who are homeless; and people who identify as First Nations, Inuit or Métis. Ask whether you are on it rather than waiting for 75.
Pregnancy adds two. Tdap is given in every pregnancy. The RSV vaccine is funded between 32 and 36 weeks if you will deliver during RSV season, generally November to April — but Ontario's preferred route is the antibody dose given to the baby after birth, and having both is not usually recommended. Ask which one applies to you.
A public health unit is a third route for some doses. Peel Public Health gives the Grade 7 vaccines in schools, and runs clinics for school-aged children who have no health care provider. For the funded RSV dose, ask where it is being given this season before you make the trip.
Health-care providers do not report immunizations to public health. Families do, after every appointment, and the record Peel holds is the one a school reads. Enter the doses yourself at peel.icon.ehealthontario.ca, call 905-799-7700 or 1-888-919-7800, or fax a copy of the yellow card to 905-565-0426. A record left incomplete draws up to two reminder letters and then a suspension notice, over roughly three months, and a student can be kept out for up to 20 days.
The flu shot takes about two weeks to take full effect, and flu season runs from late autumn into early spring, so go early rather than waiting for the first cold week.
What OHIP covers
If you are in the eligible group for a vaccine on Ontario's routine schedule, the vaccine costs you nothing. The COVID-19 shot is publicly funded from six months of age too. A vaccine outside a publicly funded programme — most travel vaccines, a shingles dose after 70 — is one you pay for. Call and ask which vaccines are in stock before you come.
Walk in, or book?
Book it. The vaccine has to be in the clinic on the day you arrive, and some are a two-dose series, so ask when the second dose is due. Some clinics take flu shots as walk-ins in season and others book them, so call the desk before you queue.
What to bring
- Your health card
- Any immunization record you have, including a photo of the yellow card
- The letter from a school, employer or placement naming the vaccines it wants
- Dates and names of vaccines given outside Canada, in whatever language they are written
- Your due date, if you are asking about Tdap or RSV in pregnancy
Questions people ask
Our records are from another country, or we have lost them.
Bring whatever exists, in any language. Canada's immunization guide says someone without adequate documentation is treated as unimmunized and started on a schedule suited to their age, so a dose may be repeated rather than assumed — and repeat doses of MMR, polio, Hib, meningococcal, hepatitis A and B, varicella and flu vaccines have not been shown to cause harm. Report the catch-up doses to Peel once they are done.
Can I get the flu shot and the COVID-19 vaccine at the same visit?
Yes. Ontario's guidance is that COVID-19 vaccines, flu shots and RSV vaccines may be given at the same time as, or at any time before or after, other immunizations, from six months of age. Say when you call that you want both, so the desk can check stock first.
Which vaccines can a pharmacy give, and which need a doctor?
A pharmacy can give the flu shot from age two and COVID-19 from six months, plus the funded shingles, pneumococcal and tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis vaccines for adults who are eligible. What any one pharmacy holds varies, so phone ahead. A baby's flu shot before age two, and the infant and toddler doses on the schedule, need a doctor, a nurse practitioner or a public health unit that offers them.
Still have a question? Call the front desk.
Related
- Children's health and well-baby visitsWell-baby checks, immunizations, growth
- Seniors' care from 65Medication reviews, mobility, memory
- What to sort out before you flyVaccines and advice before you go
