City optimistic it can meet goal to avoid lockdown

Toronto can — and must — fully vaccinate 90 per cent of eligible residents to keep COVID-19 at bay so schools can remain open and lockdowns won’t be part of the pandemic’s fourth wave, city officials said Wednesday.

“We are laser-focused on reaching this goal so that we can protect the great progress that we have made because of the global-leading numbers that we have put on the board already in terms of getting people vaccinated,” Mayor John Tory told reporters during an online briefing.

With experts predicting spread of the virulent Delta variant will accelerate after children return this week to inclass learning — many under 12 and ineligible for vaccination — officials urged everyone to get fully protected as soon as possible.

“The fall months ahead of us will not be as relaxed as we might like,” said Toronto’s public health chief, Dr. Eileen de Villa, referring to concerns Delta variant spread could sicken young people and pressure the health-care system.

“The best way to preserve the flexibility in life that we have, and to protect that large number of little people who can’t yet be vaccinated, is to drive up vaccination levels and adjust our contact with each other,” through physical distancing.

Toronto has administered about 4.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine. About 84 per cent of eligible Torontonians have received at least one dose, with just under 77 per fully vaccinated.

At its current vaccination rate, Toronto would hit the 90 per cent threshold — where Ontario’s public health chief says the virus would have difficulty rapidly spreading through communities — around early December.

City officials, however, believe they can reach the milestone sooner by convincing holdouts and bringing vaccines to them, in subway stations, workplaces and even front doorsteps.

They pointed to data showing unvaccinated residents are seven times more likely to become infected with COVID-19 than unvaccinated Torontonians, and a new survey conducted for the city suggesting many holdouts are open to persuasion.

The Ipsos survey of 1,203 Torontonians, conducted online between July 30 and Aug. 10, found a seven per cent drop in “vaccine hesitancy” since March.

The survey found only six per cent of respondents opposed to vaccines, while eight per cent said they considered themselves hesitant, with questions and potential barriers that public health officials can try to address.

Almost two-thirds of parents of children aged 11 and under said they plan to get their children vaccinated when they are eligible. The survey’s “credibility interval” is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points 19 times out of 20. Toronto’s vaccination progress ticked up last week, de Villa said, with possible factors including Ontario’s announcement of vaccination certificates and mandates and some people preparing to return to offices after working remotely.

Among those ending remote work in the coming weeks will be thousands of City of Toronto employees, Tory said, touting a “safe, gradual” return to workplaces with mandatory vaccination, mask use and spaces modified to reduce infection risk.

The mayor said he hopes other employers follow suit and restore some vibrancy to business areas emptied by the pandemic.