TORONTO -- Toronto residents who haven't yet booked their first appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine may have to wait at least a month before they can get their shot.
The City of Toronto said in a tweet on Thursday that all city-run clinics are fully booked or close to it until June 6. However, roughly 60,000 appoints are opening up on Thursday for the week of June 7.
The city says as more supply becomes available, they’ll be ready to ramp up clinic operations.
This comes as vaccination eligibility expanded across Ontario Thursday, to include people 50 and above, those with high-risk health conditions, and a number of essential workers who can’t work from home.
People 18 and older who live in hot-spot postal codes were able to begin booking their appointments through the provincial website earlier this week.
Peel Region is going a step further. Starting Thursday, every adult resident – not just those in hot-spots – are able to book their shot.
Chief Medical Officer of Health for Peel Region, Dr. Lawrence Loh, told CTV News Channel on Thursday there are roughly 15,000 needles going into arms every day in Peel, but they can do more.
“We continue to add capacity steadily,” he said. “We imagine we're going to get to 20,000 (or) 21,000 a day, probably by even the middle of next week.”
Loh says if that does happen, it could lead to another 400,000 to 500,000 people with first doses by the end of May.
