Written by Senaya Kiruwanagamage
Vaccines have been shown to be the most effective and safest approach to protect yourself and others around you against serious illness. Many experts have emphasised the significance of getting vaccinated in light of the pandemic, not only for our individual protection but also for the sake of public health. Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Janssen are the four vaccines that have been approved by Health Canada so far (Johnson & Johnson). (Ontario's COVID-19 immunisation plan) As of September 2nd, 2021, a total of 20,827,809 doses of vaccines had been administered in Ontario (equivalent to two shots per person). A report done by the Government of Canada reported that 66.22% of Ontarians had been fully vaccinated.
The government had implemented a three-phase approach to regulate vaccine administration and prioritise particular high-risk groups. Staff and residents at long-term care homes, retirement homes, and first-nation care homes participated in the first phase. Healthcare workers, adults over 80, and adults from remote and higher risk first nation communities were also included in the first phase, which went from December 2020 to March 2021. Phase 2 was implemented in sub-phases to divide the vaccination recipients into age groups. Anyone in the indicated age categories was eligible to participate in this phase. Any Ontarian aged 12 and up would be eligible to receive the vaccine by May 23rd. Anyone in Ontario between the ages of 18 and 64 was eligible to receive the vaccine in phase 3, which began in July and is still ongoing. (Ontario's COVID-19 vaccination plan)
More than 75% of Ontario adults had gotten their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination as of June 17th (Hilkene). The number of people getting vaccinated in Ontario was rapidly increasing, therefore over 3 million doses of the vaccine were ordered to arrive by the end of June to meet the demand (Jensen, Accelerated Second Dose Eligibility Continues Ahead of Schedule). To enhance the number of completely vaccinated citizens, the province chose to speed the second dose over a four-week period. At the beginning of July, Ontario allocated 348,000 vaccines, and by the end of the month, it had increased to roughly 885,000.
The province is now focusing on vaccinating areas with low vaccination rates, and additional mobile and pop-up clinics are being put up to increase immunisation rates. “Ontario has been able to speed up second dose appointments, target hot spot locations, and provide additional options for people to become fully immunised thanks to the substantial increase in Moderna vaccines and steady supply from Pfizer,” said Solicitor General Sylvia Jones (Jensen, Accelerated Second Dose Eligibility Continues Ahead of Schedule). They're also putting together call centres to boost appointment reservations; so far, over 110,000 second dosage appointments have been scheduled (Jensen, Accelerated Second Dose Eligibility Continues Ahead of Schedule). The province of Ontario has also introduced the "improved COVID-19 vaccine certificate." Citizens will be able to use this as a passport, and many workplaces, stores, and restaurants will soon demand persons to show proof of vaccination status before entering. As a result, the number of vaccination appointments has increased. (Vaccine bookings in Ontario have increased since the passport announcement...)
As of August 26, 2021 (the end of Ontario's COVID-19 vaccination schedule), a total of 26,174,971 vaccinations have been distributed to the province. Ontario has not booked any additional vaccination supplies as of yet. However, because the COVID-19 booster is given to immunocompromised people and seniors in nursing homes, it's debatable whether they should be offered to the general public. The province is currently seeking national instructions on whether or not to proceed with public distribution of the booster. It's safe to imagine that if the government makes these boosters available to the general public, they'll be in high demand.
In Canada, Ontario has one of the highest immunisation rates. If citizens continue to schedule vaccination appointments, we may be protected from COVID-19 much sooner and have healthier communities.
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