Hot-spot 18-plus vaccinations only available at mobile, pop-up clinics

Provincial-managed clinics for adults between 18 and 49 are already underway in high-risk neighbourhoods

Torontosun.com
April 13, 2021
Bryan Passifiume

Adults under the age of 50 who live in Toronto’s high-risk neighbourhoods are only eligible for COVID vaccinations at mobile or pop-up clinics, and not through any online booking portals.

Emergency Management Chief Matthew Pegg confirmed Monday that while the province did announce last week that those between 18 and 49 who live in one of 53 postal codes designated as COVID-19 “hot spots” could get their shot, they must wait for a clinic to come to them.

Hot-spot 18-plus vaccinations only available at mobile, pop-up clinics

“The province did not make vaccine available by other means, including through city-operated vaccine clinics to that age category yet,” Pegg said Monday.

“The eligibility the province has put into place for 18-plus is restricted to mobile and pop-up clinics in those priority neighbourhoods.”

Those clinics, he said, are managed directly by the province and are already administering shots in many locations.

As vaccine supplies increase, Pegg said he anticipates city-run clinics will eventually accept online bookings from those in hard-hit neighbourhoods.

As for the city’s timeline for establishing mobile vaccine clinics targeting workplaces, Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s medical officer of health, said those should be up and running later this week.

“We’re just opened up the full slate of mass immunization clinics, and that certainly was a heavy and important lift, and we can now provide some resourcing towards mobile and pop-up clinics,” she said.

“Through the combination of the many efforts that are underway, we aim to get to essential workers and their families and households, such that we can best address the spread of COVID-19 both in workplaces and in those communities that have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.”

Toronto recorded 1,296 new COVID-19 cases on Monday -- that’s 6,114 new cases since Thursday.

There were 632 people in hospital with 108 receiving intensive care, and five new deaths.