LONDON, ONT. -- Vaccine eligibility continues to expand across the region and as more people prepare to join the queue, the number of available vaccines at local pharmacies begins to temporarily dry up.

Over the course of six weeks at Yurek’s pharmacy in London, owner Peter Yurek saw more than one thousand doses of AstraZeneca be administered.

"Everybody was so excited to get the shot, our staff were excited to be part of the process."

While a successful first month, vaccine operation is now at a standstill. ‘Unfortunately we have been out of the vaccine for a couple weeks.”

The provincial public health sector is responsible with supplying pharmacies with vaccines.

Within the last two weeks, some doses of AstraZeneca initially marked for Middlesex-London, have been redirected to hot spot areas in Toronto and are unlikely to be available again.

“They’re putting the vaccine where it's needed and that's the right decision. I am expecting by the next couple weeks we will have more, pharmacies will now have access to Pfizer and Moderna, they’re currently testing some of the hotspots and as supply increase in the next couple of weeks, I expect we'll be back vaccinating.”

When pharmacies will have Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are not yet confirmed, but Yurek estimates his pharmacy staff will be back administering vaccines in early June.

While vaccine supply in some pharmacies is uncertain, the month of May has still been one of the busiest for vaccine delivery in the region.

‘We have now vaccinated 216 thousand people in this region about 188,000 through the mass clinics, 22,000 through pharmacies and about 5.5 through family doctors offices…that 51 per cent of adults,’ said Medical officer of health for Middlesex-London, Dr. Chris Mackie in a media briefing on Monday.

Despite growing vaccine numbers the health unit says they are confident that the clinics can meet the growing demand.

In a media briefing on Monday, the Middlesex-London Health Unit also announced the opening of a new mass vaccine clinic, Earl Nichols Arena.

The timeline for the vaccination site which will be announced next Thursday.