Officials in Peel Region have announced all residents aged 18 and older in the area will be able to book their COVID-19 vaccine appointment beginning on Thursday at 8 a.m.
The move came just days after Ontario expanded eligibility in the provincial booking system to 18 years and older for residents living in designated hot spots.
Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie said the expansion in eligibility applies to all Peel residents, regardless of whether or not they live in a designated hot spot.
Peel Region has 25 of the province’s total 114 designated hot spots — second to Toronto’s 53.
The region, specifically the cities of Brampton and Mississauga, have been hit hard by COVID-19 with high case numbers and outbreaks.
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“The reality is that we couldn’t wait any longer to make the vaccine available to every adult in Peel. Peel Region has been a hot spot for a very long time. In fact, we’ve been on fire,” Crombie said.
“We’re home to 10 per cent of Ontario’s population but account for 20 per cent of all cases. We’re home to the largest number of essential workers living in every corner of this region and these workers have shouldered a disproportionate amount of the risk through the entire pandemic.”
In late April, medical officer of health Dr. Lawrence Loh issued a directive allowing public health to order the temporary closure of businesses with five or more cases. At the time, Loh said workplace outbreaks were a “driving force” in the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the region.
Peel has recently had some workplace pop up vaccination clinics in hot spots.
Crombie said she wants Peel Region to have a “a steady and consistent supply of the vaccine.”
“I am urging the province to listen to the science table and commit to sending hot spots like Peel 50 per cent of all the vaccine going forward. COVID-19 has not affected regions equally and returning to a per capita distribution of the vaccine is insufficient for us and it is neither fair nor is it ethical,” she said.
“I want everyone outside of a hot spot like Peel to understand that we’re holding the rest of you up. We’re holding up the province right now from getting their lives back to normal.”
Ontario allocated 50 per cent of vaccine supply for the first two weeks of May to designated hot spots.
Health Minister Christine Elliott was asked on Wednesday if there would be an extension of that beyond two weeks, but she said after that time the province will return to per capita distribution.
“The two-week period should be sufficient to bring transmission more under control in these hot spot areas,” she said.
Meanwhile, residents aged 50 and older across the province will be eligible to book on Thursday.
Elliott said 65 per cent of Ontarians aged 18 years and older are expected to have their first shot by the end of May.
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