Toronto reaches new COVID-19 vaccine milestone with 90% fourth dose coverage in city-run long-term care
More than 90 per cent of long-term care residents in Toronto’s city-run facilities have received a fourth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
The new milestone comes just weeks after the province announced that residents in Ontario’s long-term care home, as well as those in retirement homes, elder care lodges and other congregate care settings, could get a fourth shot of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine three months after their third shot.
“Many of these individuals are now likely becoming increasingly more susceptible to COVID-19 infection due to waning immunity from their previous doses,” Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore said at the end of December.
Staff, students, volunteers and caregivers in these settings were also mandated to get their booster shot by Jan. 28.
The City of Toronto, for its part, began vaccinating eligible residents on Jan. 6. On Wednesday, officials said that 90 per cent of eligible residents in the city’s 10 long-term care homes have received their third shot.
Officials also said that it has received 220 High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters from the province and hope to install them at long-term care homes by the end of the week.
“Toronto Public Health reminds residents that the COVID-19 Omicron variant continues to spread, creating an urgent need for those eligible to receive a third dose of vaccine to get vaccinated as soon as they are eligible,” officials said in a news release.
“Any residents who have not yet received their first or second dose of COVID-19 vaccine are also encouraged to do so as soon as possible.”
Immunocompromised Ontarians can also book appointments for a fourth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine,
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.