TORONTO -- The City of Toronto will begin vaccinating people ages 80 and over at three mass immunization clinics starting next week.

During a news conference on Monday, Mayor John Tory said the three clinics, which are located at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, the Scarborough Town Centre, and the Toronto Congress Centre, will open on March 17.

The city is launching an interim system for residents to book appointments while it waits for the Government of Ontario’s provincewide online portal to go live on March 15.

"In order to avoid delaying the launch of city-run clinic operations, we are working with our provincial partners to establish an interim registration and booking process for these three initial clinics," Matthew Pegg, the general manager of Toronto's Office of Emergency Management, said on Monday.

"This interim solution will build on our previous proof-of-concept clinic operational plans. Our teams are hard at work now finalizing all of these details."

The clinics will operate from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and details on how to book appointments will be provided “in the coming days,” Pegg said.

“These openings, two weeks ahead of schedule, are possible thanks to a shipment of 17,500 doses coming directly to Toronto Public Health next week,” Tory said on Monday.

“The opening of these larger vaccination sites will represent an expansion of the network of hospital-based clinics and community and mobile initiatives now underway and will be further expanded to include pharmacies as that pilot project proceeds.”

An additional six city-run clinics will open as vaccine supply ramps up in the coming weeks," Tory said.

City-run clinics will receive a total of 17,500 doses of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines on the week of March 15, 98,920 doses on the week of March 22, 174,200 doses on March 29, 80,730 doses on the week of April 5, and 80,730 doses on the week of April 12.

Hospitals in Toronto, which receive vaccine allocations directly from the province, are already booking appointments to vaccinate people in the community who are eligible.

To date, a little more than 200,000 Toronto residents have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The city says it will have the capacity to administer 975,000 doses per month at these mass immunization clinics when vaccine supply allows and the clinics will be able to operate 24-hours a day as needed.