Toronto Mayor John Tory says that supply is not the problem anymore encouraging residents to book appointments as the City opened up thousands of more slots for those looking for a COVID-19 shot this week.
As of Tuesday morning, Tory said there are still 34,000 appointments available to get vaccinated at nine City-run immunization clinics.
“We have made substantial additional appointments based on vaccine supply that was made available to us by the government of Ontario,” he said.
“We would like very much for people to take advantage of that opportunity to get vaccinated. This is the single most important thing people can do to accelerate our move into Stage 3 and beyond, and a return to normal life in the city.”
Tory encouraged residents to book appointments or to help others book a first or second dose or get people to the clinics.
“The problem now is not supply or appointments,” he said.
According to data by the Ontario government, there are more than 5.8 million people fully immunized with two doses — which roughly equals 47.8 per cent of the eligible adult population. First-dose adult coverage stands at 78.4 per cent.
In Toronto specifically, Tory said more than 50 per cent of residents have two shots.
However, he said there is still a long way to go for the rest of the population to get their second shots.
Tory said that there are under-vaccinated populations in the northwest corner of Toronto and the city will target that area through an “enthusiastic program of activities.”
“The best defence that we’re going to have against a resurgence of this virus, which could cause us to go backwards in terms of reopening and in terms of returning to a normal life, is the vaccinations,” he said.