TORONTO – More than 65 percent of Toronto adults have received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine. Yesterday, the city’s own health authorities announced this important step forward, stressing that the breakthrough was possible thanks to the collaboration between the various levels of government committed to combating the pandemic. “We have surpassed an incredible milestone as 65 percent of adults over the age of 18 in Toronto have now received at least one vaccine dose. That is two out of every three adults in the city. That number speaks not only to Team Toronto’s impressive efforts to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible but also the commitment from the people of Toronto themselves,” Medical Officer of Health Dr. Eileen de Villa said in a press release. “This level of vaccine coverage shows us that we have successfully engaged many people in the city to chart a clear path forward in our vaccination strategy.”
Even at the provincial level, the mass immunization campaign is proceeding at great speed. According to data from covid19tracker.ca, 8,251,642 doses of the 8,885,735 sent by the federal government to provincial health authorities were administered. Yesterday 86,927 people received the vaccine, a slight decrease compared to the average of the past few days due also to the drop in deliveries of the Pfizer vaccine, which this week sent only 600 thousand doses.
At the federal level, however, 52% of the adult population has already received the vaccine. According to covid19tracker.ca, a was administered in Canada in all, 21,525,275 doses of the 23,939,504 sent by Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson were administered.
Meanwhile, encouraging news has come from the manufacturer of the Moderna vaccine. The pharmaceutical group announced yesterday that its covid vaccine is “extremely effective” in the 12-17 age group. Moderna came to this conclusion following an experiment involving 3,700 children between the age of 12 and 17.
Two-thirds of the 3,700 boys involved in the study received the vaccine and a third received a simple placebo. “After two doses, no cases of Covid were recorded in the vaccinated group, while 4 cases occurred in the group that received the placebo,” reads a note from Moderna.
“The effectiveness of the vaccine is therefore 100% fourteen days after the second dose,” the release adds.
The group points out that efficacy of 93% was observed after a single dose. In addition, it still says, the serum has been “generally well tolerated” and “no safety concerns have emerged so far.”
The side effects, among other things, were the same as in adults (pain at the point where the injection was made, tiredness, chills and so on).
The pharmaceutical group plans to provide regulatory bodies “around the world” with data on clinical trials in the 12-17 age group at the beginning of June. The group explained that on the basis of these studies the vaccine was “very effective”.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has already been authorized for adolescents in several countries, including Canada and the United States.
