TORONTO – As mass vaccination progresses according to the roadmap, the desire to return to a normal life after a year and a half of pandemic, lived between lockdown and restrictions, grows. And this desire for normality, at least for now, comes up against the necessary caution with which the provincial government has decided to reopen Ontario’s economy. The first cautious easing of the restrictions will be seen on June 14, when the province enters phase one of the reopening plan and this Victoria Day Long Weekend has been a bit of a test of citizens’ ability to hold out for another three weeks. Good weather has not helped and in various areas of the province, the police have been forced to intervene for illegal gatherings and non-respect for social distance and not the use of masks. On Sunday night, along the beaches of Woodbine and Cherry, police issued dozens of fines to people who had gathered to fire fireworks. Images taken from Twitter yesterday morning testify to a massive presence of people who left paper, plastic and glass bottles and garbage on the beach.

Nothing organized, contrary to what happened on Saturday 15 May in Toronto during the Worldwide Freedom Rally, where thousands of people – although no official number was communicated about the real presences – had paraded without masks and social distancing to protest against the restrictions imposed by the provincial government. From the images of the event, which gathered a varied set of no masks, no vax, negationists, conspiratorials and far-right politicians – led by the leader of the People’s Party Maxime Bernier – it can be seen that during the event the guidelines and security protocols were not respected to limit the contagion of Covid-19. It remains to be seen whether there will be a surge in infections in the coming days precisely because of that event and whether, on the contrary, the epidemiological curve in the province will continue to fall, following the trajectory of recent weeks.

Finally, discussions continue on the node related to the second dose of vaccine. After the tug-of-war of the last few days, ontario health authorities have given the green light to the use of AstraZeneca only for those who have already made the first dose with this vaccine. This position is in clear contradiction to what was said earlier: the need to mix two different vaccines, which has proved effective and safe according to two different studies published in England and Spain. To tangle the situation was thought yesterday by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (Naci), which emphasized how it would be preferable to use the first and second dose of the same vaccine and, where it was not possible, mix vaccines of the same type: Pfizer with Moderna and AstraZeneca with Johnson and Johnson. But at this point some question marks emerge to which Naci himself has not been able to give reliable answers. Johnson and Johnson, although already approved by Health Canada, has not yet been distributed to the provinces due to the risks related to possible cases of thrombosis: the exact same problem as AstraZenena. Another doubt is related to the very nature of the vaccine: Johnson and Johnson is the only single dose vaccine, that is capable of stimulating immune responses against Covid with a single dose. At this point what would be the effects of a mix with AstraZeneca?