Muhammad Ali Bukhari, CNMNG News, Toronto
In a bid to accelerate Covid-19 vaccination among Toronto City’s 2.93 million residents, Mayor John Tory said today that pharmacies will be put in charge of an integrated immunization program. In his words, “This is a team effort and I believe the rollout plans we are discussing in detail today shows you just how big the team is for starters and the fact that it will, as you would expect, deploy its efforts right across the entire city.”
However, Toronto City officials said earlier that the list of integrated immunization programs would include 49 immunizations at hospitals, 48 at community health centers and 249 at pharmacies, in addition to the nine supervised by the city.
City officials say a well-organized team will operate mobile and pop-up clinics throughout the city, especially in areas where Covid-19 transmissions were most prevalent.
Work is already underway on planned vaccinations, including at the Metro Toronto Convention Center downtown, the Mitchell Field Community Center in North York, the North Toronto Memorial Community Center, the Carmin Stefano Community Center and the Cloverdale Mall.
Last week, Fire Chief Matthew Pegg, who is leading the emergency work on the Covid-19 pandemic, told reporters that the clinics will “form the backbone of the network of city-wide clinics” but are just one piece of the puzzle” and therefore 1,400 staff have been trained to run the vaccination center at the vaccination center.
But, the city officials continue to work with 140 community organizations, especially in the most affected areas, to make the immunization program possible.
The provincial government has also said it wants to conduct immunization activities for an additional 7.5 million people in the second phase, which will run until June.
A number of public health centers, including York, have begun offering advance appointments for people over the age of 80, but Toronto City officials are now unable to do so due to population concerns.
According to them, they are working in coordination with the hospitals on the ‘special sub-population of the people in the population who have been contacted and offered the vaccine.
