Toronto is launching #DaysofVaxtion, a bombardment of pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinics targeting the approximately 314,000 Toronto residents who are not yet fully protected from the virus and who are most at risk during the ongoing fourth wave of the pandemic.
Mayor John Tory announced the Thursday through Sunday campaign on Wednesday, in prepared speech notes calling it “a mega-event comprised of a series of micro-clinics – smaller pop-up clinics located exactly where we know people should get vaccinated and where we know people should get vaccinated. people will be in the next few days. “
Toronto Public Health and partner hospital staff will immunize people at TTC stations, parks, shopping malls, and schools, including three pop-up mobile sites along Yonge Street, a clinic in Trinity-Bellwoods Park, and subway stations. like Sheppard, Islington and Warden.
In Scarborough, a health team will operate eight mobile clinics on Saturday, including those in four shopping centers: Golden Mile, Bridlewood, Parkway and Cedarbrae.
More locations to be announced in the city’s aggressive push to increase the rate of fully vaccinated Toronto residents ages 12 and older from about 79 percent now to the province’s 90 percent target to halt the growth of the Delta variant. highly contagious of COVID-19.
Tory said that more than 2 million Toronto residents are fully vaccinated. To reach the 90 percent threshold, the city must fully protect another 314,000 residents, a number that includes 158,000 who have already received their first dose.
Data from Ontario shows that residents who have not yet received two doses of the vaccine are at increased risk of becoming infected and seriously ill, and are fueling the continued spread of COVID-19 that is prolonging the 18-month pandemic.
Tory said the #DaysofVaxtion sites were chosen using the city’s “data-driven approach” to remove barriers to vaccination in areas that have low vaccination rates or where indicators suggest there is a high risk of infection.
Organizers also searched for places Toronto residents will pass through in their daily lives.
The multi-clinic push to reach 90 percent of eligible Toronto residents follows June’s megaclinic at Scotiabank Arena that saw more than 26,000 doses of vaccines administered in one day.
“We want as many people as possible to be protected from this terrible virus,” by the end of Sunday, Tory said in remarks prepared for a morning briefing on COVID-19. “And I know that the more people are vaccinated, the safer our entire city will be and all the progress we’ve made.”
Toronto also relies on the province’s certificate and proof of vaccination mandates, along with vaccination mandates from many employers, including the city itself, to help drive the vaccination rate as high as possible.
Parts of Canada, including Alberta, where political and health leaders did not impose as many restrictions or focus as much on vaccination mandates, are experiencing a crushing fourth wave, with intensive care units overwhelmed, a fate Ontario is trying to avoid. .
Reference-www.thestar.com