25% of Toronto adults are fully vaccinated against COVID-19; 75% received first dose
It’s a two-dose summer for at least 25 per cent of adults in Toronto so far.
The city marked two COVID-19 vaccine milestones on Saturday as one in four adults are now fully vaccinated against the disease and 75 per cent have received their first dose.
Mayor John Tory congratulated the city on its achievements while visiting a pop-up vaccine clinic at Varsity Stadium on Saturday.
“This is a significant accomplishment and I want to express my thanks to all of the health partners, to the people on the city staff, Toronto Public Health, all of those involved in setting up all the different clinics,” Tory said.
The city has administered more than 2.9 million COVID-19 doses since mid-December.
As of Friday evening, more than 808,800 people have booked a COVID-19 appointment at a city-run clinic.
Although the vaccine milestones are significant, Tory said the city isn’t out of the woods yet as the highly-contagious Delta variant is spreading throughout the province.
“If we want to make sure that the Delta variant does not get an upper hand on us, the best thing we can do to make sure of that is to take what is 75 per cent first dose and 25 per cent second doses as of today, a big accomplishment, and push those numbers up even higher. But that relies on people out there, people of the city, residents in the city of Toronto, to get vaccinated,” Tory said.
With more vaccine supply coming into the province, the city is adding 90,000 more vaccine appointments over the next two weeks.
Yesterday, Toronto added 30,000 appointments for the Moderna vaccine at city run clinics and 60,000 more appointments will be available on Monday. Residents can book these appointments on the provincial government’s booking website.
As Toronto is making significant strides in its vaccination program, Ontario is on its way to entering Step 2 of its reopening plan by Canada Day long weekend.
This week, provincial health officials announced that 20 per cent of Ontarians have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines and 75 per cent have received one dose.
These metrics meet Ontario’s criteria to enter Step 2 of the reopening plan, however, according to the plan the province must stay in each step for 21 days before proceeding to the next level. This means that the province won’t be eligible to move into the next step until July 2 unless the government approves a faster date.
On Wednesday, Premier Doug Ford said he will be speaking with health officials about possibly reopening earlier than planned.
“I'll be sitting down with the health table and Dr. Williams, and we'll make that decision. But no one in this province wants to open up quicker than I do,” Ford said. “I just can't wait. People are ready. Everyone has worked really, really hard.”
Ontario entered Step 1 on June 11, which allowed patios to open and non-essential retail to operate with capacity limits.
Step 2 will increase retail capacity sizes, allow indoor gatherings up to five people and expand outdoor gatherings to 25 people.
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