More than 65 per cent of Toronto adults have now received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
The city announced the milestone on Tuesday morning following a holiday weekend blitz that included a pop up clinic inside the rotunda at city hall in which thousands of residents, some as young as 12, were vaccinated.
“We have surpassed an incredible milestone as 65 per cent of adults over the age of 18 in Toronto have now received at least one vaccine dose. That is two out of every three adults in the city. That number speaks not only to Team Toronto’s impressive efforts to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible, but also the commitment from the people of Toronto themselves,” Medical Officer of Health Dr. Eileen de Villa said in a press release. “This level of vaccine coverage shows us that we have successfully engaged many people in the city to chart a clear path forward in our vaccination strategy.”
It was only two weeks ago that the city announced that 50 per cent of adults had received at least one dose but supply has quickly ramped up and nearly 10,000 people are now being vaccinated at city-run clinics each day, not to mention thousands of others at pop up and mobile clinics.
There were concerns last week that the city had started to hit a wall in its vaccination efforts as there were 11,000 open appointments for the holiday weekend still available as of Friday.
Those appointments, however, were mostly filled following a plea from Mayor John Tory and the city was able to reach the 65 per cent threshold a full week ahead of the schedule set out by the Ford government.
“Once again, Premier Ford has set a vaccination target and the people of Toronto have worked to meet that target well ahead of deadline,” Tory said in the press release. “Our work to get even more residents vaccinated continues because we know that the faster we get everyone vaccinated, the faster this pandemic will be over.”
A total of 1,986,966 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Toronto so far and the city could hit the two million milestone sometime today.
