Skip to content

Need a printout of your vaccine QR code? Head to the MCC

Town of Pelham staff at the Meridian Community Centre are a helpful bunch, especially when it comes to assisting those with limited tech skills during the pandemic.
Andrea Metler staffs the entrance desk at the MCC, ready to help residents obtain their QR code for proof of Covid-19 vaccination. DON RICKERS

Town of Pelham staff at the Meridian Community Centre are a helpful bunch, especially when it comes to assisting those with limited tech skills during the pandemic.

With the MCC’s reopening this Monday, all visitors now require a QR matrix barcode to access Town of Pelham facilities. This is in keeping with a provincial government edict in December that non-scannable versions of vaccine certificates will no longer be accepted, and that the new enhanced QR code will be mandatory.

“They're very appreciative,” MCC staffer Andrea Metler told the Voice last month, before the most recent lockdown. “It’s mostly older people, maybe five a day, who are not that tech-savvy. Many don’t have smartphones. We explain the process, and using their personal health card number, print off a copy of their QR code for future use.”

The Verify Ontario app is used by businesses to read SMART Health QR codes and verify proof of full vaccination. The app can now scan out-of-province certificates that use the same technology.

Ontarians are required to have a digital screenshot of the QR-code version on their phones for proof of vaccination or carry a print-out paper copy.

The original vaccination receipts, which have been susceptible to fraud, are no longer accepted.

The app is available for iOS and Android phones, and is available online at www.covid-19.ontario.ca/verify

Since the start of the pandemic, Canada has endured over three million cases of Covid-19 infection, and some 33,500 deaths. Currently, about 78 percent of Canadians age five and up have been fully vaccinated, and 37 percent have had a booster shot. In Ontario, 41 percent have had a booster shot, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.

   


Reader Feedback

Don Rickers

About the Author: Don Rickers

A life-long Niagara resident, Don Rickers worked for 35 years in university and private school education. He segued into journalism in his retirement with the Voice of Pelham, and now PelhamToday
Read more