Registration opens for some Toronto residents,
Pre-registration being offered for those over 80 and Indigenous adults
Seniors, 80 and up, as well as Indigenous adults, can now preregister for COVID vaccines in some Toronto neighbourhoods, despite messaging from the city at a Monday press conference they’d have to wait for the launch of a provincial online booking portal in mid-March.
“We have the opportunity to do something that’s going to save people’s lives,” said Dr. Jeff Powis, medical director of infection prevention and control at Michael Garron Hospital, part of East Toronto Health Partners.
“I think waiting for March 15, even though that’s only two weeks away, might have an impact on somebody,” he added. “If I can save somebody or keep somebody’s family from suffering the grief of a loss then we’re going to try to do it a bit earlier and faster.”
The province sets the priorities for who gets vaccines first. But each individual health unit is responsible for its own rollout plan. Many regions outside Toronto are opening registration and even making vaccine appointments on their own public health sites for seniors that are eligible under the first phase of prioritization (80 and over) and Indigenous adults, instead of waiting for the provincial portal, which is being developed using the same software California used.
Some Ontario Health Teams, made up of physicians, community partners and hospitals, within Toronto are also moving ahead to offer preregistration for eligible seniors and Indigenous adults, with the hope they will be able to get appointments as soon as possible, depending on vaccine supply and how many register.
Online pre-registration is now available for seniors 80 and up and Indigenous adults, as well as community health workers, in East Toronto, through East Toronto Health Partners, an Ontario Health Team that includes Michael Garron.
Seniors 80 and older who live in the area can also now preregister online through North York General and North York Toronto Health Partners. They will be contacted to book an appointment later this month, according to a North York General Hospital spokesperson.
A similar online registration has been set up for Sunnybook hospital through the North Toronto Ontario Health Team for any area resident who is 80 and up, an Indigenous adult, or receives home care.
East Toronto Health Partners has developed its own plan for the community. Powis said 49 seniors over 80 at South Riverdale Community Health Centre were vaccinated over the weekend, contacted by their doctors as a way to soft-launch. More seniors are already being contacted by their family doctors, to possibly get shots in their offices, Michael Garron or neighbourhood clinics.
The team is also running a pilot program offering door-todoor vaccines for seniors in high-risk buildings, along with Mid-West Toronto OHT and North York Toronto Health Partners, including one at a building in Thorncliffe Park on Tuesday. Powis said they’re expecting to administer another 1,200 vaccines this week through that program, plus about 500 doses in shelters.
Unity Health Toronto, the network that includes St. Michael’s Hospital and St. Joseph’s, is also running a pilot, working with family doctors to test the clinics’ flow for 80-plus seniors, said spokesperson Jennifer Stranges in an email. The idea is to provide lessons for when vaccinations are opened up more broadly in the “very near future.”
“I know we’re not alone,” said Powis. “I think many of us our sensing the urgency in getting started with the available resources we have and the available tech solutions we have.”
“Of course if there’s a really robust system the province develops, we would have loved that, two months ago, we’ll link to it, and we’ll transition to it once it’s available, but in the absence of a good solution we’ve done this on our own.”
Asked why seniors 80 and over were already booking appointments in several other Ontario regions, including York, at a Monday press conference, medical officer of health Dr. Eileen de Villa said given the population, Toronto’s vaccine delivery is much more complex and larger in “scale and scope.”
At a press conference Tuesday, Mayor John Tory said “there are other factors, too, including the registration and scheduling system that is not going to be operable” until March 15.
Many seniors lined up Monday in the snow in York, and reported trouble with the region’s online platform, which filled up quickly as 20,000 booked appointments.
About 400 seniors 80 and up, and counting, have already gotten shots in Peel, registering through William Osler, said Kiki Ferrari, Osler’s chief operating officer. The hospital offered bookings through its own site, starting Monday, after some seniors came through on referrals from family doctors to test things out over the weekend. Trillium Health Partners in Mississauga is also offering preregistration.
Dr. Lawrence Loh, Peel’s medical officer of health, said Peel Public Health is working on its own booking system and will also be piloting mobile clinics for seniors with shared spaces and those who are housebound.