[GTranslate]TORONTO – Vaccinate at least 9 million people in Ontario by July. This is the new ambitious plan of the provincial government. The Ford government presented details of the so-called Phase Two of the vaccination campaign in the province, which according to plans by premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Christine Elliott is due to start in April.
At this stage, all citizens who intend to get vaccinated and who are between the ages of 79 and 60 will receive a dose, with people who are at high risk for reasons of health and previous medical conditions and some working categories that work from home.
While people over the age of 80 will continue to be vaccinated – the immunization campaign has already begun in some areas of the – there will be a strong focus on physically more fragile citizens from April. The list includes citizens who have had an organ transplant, people with lung and respiratory diseases, cancer patients and those suffering from kidney disease.
At the same time with this category, the province has created another category for people at risk: those suffering from immunodeficiency, those who have cardiovascular diseases, those who have suffered a stroke, those suffering from dementia, diabetes, mental disorders.
From April, workers of certain facilities, such as the shelter for the homeless, prisons, and agricultural farms, will also be vaccinated regardless of age. The vaccination for category work, on the other hand, should start next June, according to the government’s new roadmap. The first to be vaccinated will be school and early childhood workers, employees of establishments where food is produced and packaged and all workers in the agricultural and livestock sector.
At the same time, Ontario’s mass vaccination campaign could accelerate further in the coming weeks following the approval, announced last Friday, of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. According to many virologists, this vaccine could represent the turning point in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. The J&J vaccine to be stored and transported does not need very low temperatures. But above all – the experts point out – Johnson and Johnson is the only vaccine that needs a single dose to be effective against coronavirus. The other three approved vaccines in Canada – Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca – need a second dose to activate the complete immune response against Covid-19.
The federal government has already signed a contract to purchase 10 million doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, with an option for another 28 million doses to be exercised in the future.
