When the Devonshire COVID-19 vaccination site opens in the former Sears building later this month, it's expected to be operational for at least four months.
Speaking on AM800's The Morning Drive, Windsor Regional Hospital Chief Operating Officer Karen Riddell says that amount of time would allow for enough people to be vaccinated to get to Step 3 of the province's reopening plan.
"Ontario is going to be getting about 8-million vaccines over the next three months," she says. "So that will get us to what we need to be doing for the August potential reopening."
According to Riddell, the Devonshire site has capacity to be able to handle thousands of vaccinations per day.
"So definitely if we're able to get faster procurement through the federal vaccination supply chain, we will definitely be able to ramp up much more quickly for Windsor-Essex to get us vaccinated more quickly."
Riddell hopes people take advantage of the new site, adding that being double vaccinated will be critical.
"We need to have our population protected and also have that capacity to be able to travel internationally as well," she adds. "I think all of us are looking forward to being able to go somewhere outside of Canada and certainly visiting our family and friends who live in the U.S or other countries."
The Devonshire Mall Vaccination Centre will first open on Monday, June 21 for appointments only, no walk-ins will be permitted.