The City of Toronto surpassed a milestone on Thursday, having now administered more than seven million COVID-19 vaccine doses to its residents.
Toronto Mayor John Tory made the announcement alongside Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health Dr. Eileen de Villa at the Metro Hall vaccine clinic on Thursday.
“The point of acknowledging this today is not to celebrate and do one of those routines where we declare everything over and done with — in fact, quite the opposite,” he said.
“I’m happy at the fact that Torontonians can see the city and see themselves moving to a different stage of the pandemic where life is a bit closer to normal, but I’m concerned that we have lots of ground to make up when it comes to third and fourth doses in particular.”
Tory congratulated the city for hitting the seven million-dose milestone, and thanked people for “stepping forward to get vaccinated.”
“You have contributed to your own health and the collective health of all of your fellow Torontonians,” he said.
De Villa called the news an “incredible accomplishment.
“Seven million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in a city of 3 million people,” she said.
However, Tory said “our job is not over.”
“We still have a task in front of us to make sure people get those third and fourth doses,” Tory said, adding that the booster doses “do make a difference.”
Tory urged the public to get vaccinated, adding that his own experience with COVID-19 would have likely been worse if he had not received his shots.
According to the city, as of April 28, over 89.5 per cent of residents five and older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 shot, and 86.1 per cent have had two shots.
The city said more than 65.7 per cent of residents have also received a third dose.
“Toronto Public Health continues to work hard with Team Toronto partners to bring needed doses to residents so they can stay up-to-date with their COVID-19 vaccinations,” the release reads. “Toronto is the first major Canadian city to administer more than 7 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.”
The city runs five walk-in immunization clinics. According to the release, there are also more than 55 local pharmacies that are offering COVID-19 vaccines. More information can be found on the city’s website.
The news from Toronto comes as Ontario reported 1,676 people were in a hospital with COVID-19, with 205 in an intensive care unit.
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