City vows to ramp up vaccinations of two-year anniversary of COVID

torontosun.com
Jan. 26, 2022
Kevin Connor

City officials vowed to stay the course and ramp up vaccination efforts as Tuesday marked the two-year anniversary of the first COVID-19 patient in Toronto.

“We continue to make great progress to get Torontonians vaccinated. The best thing we can do to bring this pandemic to an end is to continue to do what we are doing,” said Mayor John Tory.

According to the city, 90% of Toronto residents have received their first dose of a vaccine and 55.5% have had a third dose.

“We are in a much better position to fight the spread of COVID-19 than we were two years ago,” said Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s medical officer of health.

The city is now planning to increase the number of available mobile vaccination pop-up clinics.

“We will double our mobile efforts over the next couple of weeks,” de Villa said. “We will shift our focus to a mobile pop-up strategy.”

The city is also working with school boards to get more vaccination clinics during and after the school day for those ages five to 11.

The city will host an accessible COVID-19 vaccination clinic on Jan. 31, from 2 p.m.-8 p.m., at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 255 Front St. W.

The clinic will have resources onsite to support individuals with accessibility issues. People with disabilities face extra barriers when trying to get a jab.

“Given the high health risks associated with COVID-19 for people with disabilities, we continue to work tirelessly to reduce barriers to vaccination through our equity-focused strategy in order to effectively respond and meet the unique needs and vulnerabilities of disability communities,” de Villa said.

The city, meanwhile, announced a new app for its 311 service. It will have GPS capability, so users can pinpoint the location of a service request and see if a problem has been reported.

People using 311 can use their phone’s camera to send 311 a photo of a problem for additional context.