Today, Mayor John Tory and Councillor Joe Cressy (Spadina-Fort York) joined Team Toronto health partners at the Martin Grove Mall COVID-19 vaccination clinic in Etobicoke to kick off the month-long Vax The Holidays campaign. The clinic is one of 14 vaccination clinics featured in this initial component of Vax The Holidays, which started Wednesday and continues to Sunday, November 21.
This Martin Grove Mall straddles the West Humber-Clairville and the Mount Olive-Silverstone-Jamestown neighbourhoods. Both neighbourhoods reflect a lower-than-average number of residents who are fully vaccinated – sitting at 78 and 72 per cent respectively. These figures, however, reflect an increase from 68 and 61 per cent at the beginning of September.
In his remarks today, Mayor Tory thanked members of Team Toronto, who helped achieve this week’s milestones of 5,000,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the city and hitting 85 per cent of eligible residents who are now fully vaccinated. He acknowledged the importance of residents making the decision to be vaccinated and the critical role of clinic location partners, such as The Sitzer Group, manager of Martin Grove Mall, and the TTC, which has been an active partner in mobile vaccine clinic operations.
Also associated with today’s clinic at Martin Grove Mall is the Rexdale Community Health Centre, one of 150 community agencies funded by the City to drive vaccine engagement efforts in Toronto’s 140 neighbourhoods. These efforts are supported by 350 community ambassadors hired by the agencies to provide multilingual community outreach, vaccine information and support.
A positive trend is also reflected in this week’s news from public health officials:
• Hospital cases of COVID-19 are at their lowest since March 2020.
• There have been no outbreaks in high schools in over one month.
• The VaxTO campaign has now reached out to more than 10,000 people who have received their first dose to encourage them to get their second dose.
• Toronto just needs 50,000 more people to get one dose to have 90 per cent of eligible residents in the city with at least one dose of vaccine – that’s down from 57,000 last week.
• There are 138,000 people who need to get both doses to reach the target of 90 per cent coverage – that’s down from 150,000 last week
With yesterday’s news that Health Canada has approved the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children aged five to 11, the Team Toronto Kids vaccination plan advanced into action.
In preparation for the arrival of the vaccine for children, and ahead of the Province opening up vaccine booking for children early next week, the City has readied approximately 20,000 appointment bookings for five- to 11-year-olds between November 25 and December 5 at the five City-run immunization clinics.
To make vaccination as accessible as possible for parents and families, clinic hours of operation at all City-run immunization clinics will be extended and expanded over those two weeks.
All Toronto children aged five to 11 years old, regardless of their neighbourhood, will be eligible to book an appointment through the provincial booking system when the Province opens it up early next week.
Walk-in clinics open today and tomorrow include:
• Elmbank Community Centre – Sunday, November 21 from 12:30 to 6:30 p.m.
• Lawrence Allen Centre – Saturday, November 20 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Martin Grove Mall – Saturday, November 20 and Sunday, November 21 from noon to 6 p.m.
• San Lorenzo Church – Saturday, November 20 from noon to 4 p.m.
• Stockyards Village – Saturday, November 20 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Waterfront Neighbourhood Centre – Saturday, November 20 from noon to 4 p.m.
• Yonge Sheppard Centre – Saturday, November 20 from noon to 6 p.m.
A full list of Vax The Holidays community-based clinic locations and operating hours, updated weekly, can be found on the City’s COVID-19: How to Get Vaccinated webpage: https://www.toronto.ca/home/co
Continuing the data-driven approach to establishing vaccine clinic locations, Vax The Holidays will focus on direct community access to COVID-19 vaccines at mobile clinics located at malls, shopping centres, community centres, schools and places of worship. Clinics will offer first, second and third doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to eligible residents born in 2009 or earlier, most on a walk-in basis.
City-run clinics at Cloverdale Mall, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Mitchell Field Arena, Scarborough Town Centre and Woodbine Mall also offer first, second and third doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, as well as the influenza vaccine. These clinics are by appointment only and can be arranged through the provincial booking system at: https://covid-19.ontario.ca/bo
Quotes
“Thank you to all the Team Toronto members, residents and partners who help make community vaccine clinics happen every day across the city. Vax The Holidays started with a series of 14 clinics this week and will grow over the coming weeks to celebrate the season with easy-to-access clinics in malls, community centres and places of worship, all the places people tend to gather at this time of year. I continue to urge all eligible residents to get vaccinated to help protect themselves, their loved ones, and the progress we are making fighting this pandemic.”
– Mayor John Tory
“Our Vax The Holidays campaign is a continuation of our work to make getting vaccinated accessible for every Torontonian by bringing vaccines to where people live, work and shop. We get closer every day to our goal of 90 per cent of Torontonians 12 and older fully vaccinated. Thank you to every member of Team Toronto and every resident who has stepped up to get vaccinated. By continuing to break down barriers and bring vaccines directly to every community across our city, we will reach our goal together.”
– Councillor Joe Cressy (Spadina-Fort York), Chair, Board of Health
Source City of Toronto
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