Almost two-thirds of Ontario residents now fully vaccinated

Ontario is close to having twothirds of the population fully vaccinated against COVID -19.

Provincial statistics released Thursday show 7,925,787 people over the age of 18 — 65.59 per cent of that population — have had two doses. More than 80 per cent of the population has had one dose.

As of 8 p.m. on Wednesday, more than 18.6 million doses of vaccine had been delivered, including 125,166 doses administered that day, Health Minister Christine Elliott tweeted. Earlier this week, Ontario's chief medical officer of health Dr. Kieran Moore said the goal is to fully vaccinate around 90 per cent of residents.

As of Tuesday, about 2.2 million Ontario residents still hadn't had their second dose and two million residents hadn't had their first, said Moore, who anticipates an uptick of cases in the fall.

Some residents aren't eligible for the COVID -19 vaccination because of their age or medical condition, but 2.5 million of the unvaccinated and under-vaccinated are eligible, said Moore, who warned that there are only six weeks left before September, when more people will be spending time indoors and schools will reopen.

It takes about six weeks for an unimmunized person to receive both shots and develop immunity.

If 20 per cent of the population is unvaccinated, there will be breakthrough infections in vulnerable populations, Moore said.

Ontario reported 185 new cases and seven new deaths on Thursday. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 548,794 confirmed cases and 9,307 deaths in the province.

There were 22 new confirmed cases in Grey Bruce, 18 in Toronto, 17 in Hamilton, 13 in Peel Region and 13 in the Waterloo region. The Eastern Ontario Health Unit, which includes Cornwall and Hawkesbury, reported five new cases Thursday.

There were no new cases in the three remaining health units in the Ottawa area.

As of Thursday, 140 people in the province were hospitalized; 141 were in ICU due to COVID -related illness and 84 were on a ventilator. (Ontario Public Health statistics of ICU hospitalizations and ventilator cases contain some patients who no longer test positive for COVID-19 but who are being treated for conditions caused by the virus.)

Quebec reported 99 new cases of COVID -19 Thursday, with three more deaths. This brings the total number of cases since the pandemic began to 376,429. The death toll is 11,238.

Quebec noted it had revised its case totals and 189 cases were removed from the cumulative list because they were duplicates. There are 71 patients in hospital, a decrease of one, and ICU cases were stable, at 21 patients.

Meanwhile, Ontario's science advisers say a proof-of-vaccination system would allow high-risk settings such as indoor dining, bars, gyms, cultural and sports events to reopen sooner and with greater capacity.

The Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table says COVID-19 vaccine certificates would set up infrastructure to guide the reintroduction of public health measures if cases spike in the future.

Premier Doug Ford has said he won't introduce a proof-of-vaccination system.

A recent brief from the advisory group differentiates between vaccine passports, which relate to travel, and vaccine certificates, an official document confirming completion of a vaccination series.