TORONTO – Ontario pushes on the accelerator. Starting at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning, all Ontario residents aged 18 and over who received the first dose of an MRNA vaccine will be able to book an appointment to receive the second before schedule. This will accelerate second-dose eligibility for about 1.5 million Ontario residents. “Vaccine administration in Ontario continues to pick up speed, allowing us to provide more second doses earlier than expected, while supporting our most at-risk communities – said Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health – all vaccines provide strong protection against Covid-19 and the Delta variant, so I encourage everyone to book the second appointment to have the dose inoculed as soon as possible.”

As early as Saturday, young people from the province between the ages of 12 and 17 living in hotspots characterized by the presence of the Delta variant of Covid can book an appointment to receive the second dose of vaccine through the provincial booking portal, pharmacies or their local health unit. The areas where the much-feared Delta variant is currently spreading are Durham, Halton, Hamilton, Peel, Porcupine, Simcoe-Muskoka, Toronto, Waterloo, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph and York.

In view of the return to school in September, what the government is aiming for is for all children to receive the second dose as soon as possible. So far, more than 76% of adults have received the first dose in Ontario, while 30% are fully immunized. In addition, between 14 and 23 June more than 1,090,000 doses were administered to people living in public health units where infections are identified with the variant that is 40-60% more contagious than the English variant and may be associated with an increased risk of hospitalization.

Today, meanwhile, the Scotiabank Arena (in the pic above) was flooded with a flood of people determined to get the Covid vaccine inoculed. As part of the “Our Winning Shot” initiative – called the largest mass vaccination effort in a day – the city has planned to administer 25,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine: 400 doctors and nurses administered an average of 1,785 vaccines per hour in an attempt to break the North American record set in April at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth of 17,003 doses administered in one day.

Toronto Mayor John Tory also went to the Scotiabank Arena to receive the second dose: after the first dose of AstraZeneca received on 10 April, the first citizen was given Modern as a second injection.