Vaccination efforts get a shot in the arm
Governments announce faster, beefier delivery and accelerated timeline
Toronto leaders welcomed a double dose of good news Friday that should speed up the immunization of Torontonians against COVID-19.
The federal government announced faster delivery of Pfizer-BioNTech, with another 1.5 million doses set to arrive before the end of March, as well as approval of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine.
Hours later, the Ontario government accelerated its timeline, including a goal of giving a first shot to every Ontario adult by June 20, with extra vaccine flowing to COVID-19 hot spots including Toronto.
That news followed concerns in recent days from Toronto Public Health chair Coun. Joe Cressy that the city was being shortchanged on vaccine by a per-capita plan that didn’t account for high COVID-19 levels and the city’s huge health-care worker population at elevated risk of infection.
The Ford government’s new plan says some health units will receive “additional doses to also target ongoing hot spots with high rates of death, hospitalization and transmission,” while still prioritizing older residents.
“Today’s update is an important and critical adjustment and will serve all of Ontario well going forward,” Cressy said in an interview.
“With our nine mass immunization clinics, we can turn the lights on and go to work the minute supply is available,” delivering 120,000 doses a week, he said, a number that could be “significantly increased” if the clinics run around the clock.
The city’s plan also has Torontonians getting vaccinated in hospitals, doctor’s offices, pharmacies and mobile and “pop up” clinics in the hardest hit neighbourhoods.
“Now, not only am I confident that we can deliver in the GTA,”
Cressy said, “I’m confident that the supply will be here to allow us to do so.”
But city officials still can’t give a start date for the mass clinics. It depends on vaccine arrival, they said, and won’t happen before March 15 when the provincial online-and-telephone vaccination reservation system becomes operational.
Mayor John Tory said that Toronto, facing a rapid rise in highly transmissible COVID-19 variants, “needed the commitments received today from both governments to be able to do more, and to do it faster.”
The vaccines’ positive impacts are already being felt in Toronto’s seniors homes, where infection rates and deaths have dropped dramatically since immunization of 91 per cent of residents and 70 per cent of staff.
Tory said he has asked the city’s immunization task force to look at all ways to speed up citywide immunization, including the possibility of 24-7 clinics.
Dr. Isaac Bogoch, a Toronto infectious disease expert on Ontario’s vaccine distribution task force, said things are looking up in the race between variants and vaccines.
“You get the sense that finally things are coming together,” Bogoch said in an interview.
“You’ve got Canada securing a ton of vaccines and they’re actually starting to roll in, you’ve got the province releasing really data-driven and equitable plans for rollout, you’ve got health units demonstrating they’re all set up,” he said.
“It’s too soon to pat anyone on the back, and of course there will be bumps on the road, but it looks like we’re going to get through this.”