As the number of infections drops, Toronto’s vaccination campaign continues quickly. More than 77% of Toronto adults have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine and more than 45% are fully immunized.

Enthusiastic about the citizens’ response, city mayor John Tory called on residents to continue on the path they had taken.

“Now more than 45% of Toronto adults have been fully vaccinated. Thanks to all our health and community partners who are part of Team Toronto’s effort – said the first citizen – this effort continues non-stop, we want as many people as possible to be fully vaccinated to help stop the spread of Covid-19 and the Delta variant and to protect the progress we are making with the reopening of our city”.

After a limp start – either because of the poor organization of clinics, or because of a certain reticence of citizens – immunizations advance smoothly. On Wednesday, Team Toronto also set the highest average so far in the vaccination campaign with 51,896 total doses per day over the course of seven days. The problem at the moment is some pockets of the city where immunizations do not go at the pace hoped for.

Today a clinic was set up at Cloverdale Mall in the Etobicoke West Mall neighborhood where vaccination rates are among the lowest in the city with only 62.6% of adults receiving at least one dose and 29% fully immunized.

“People want to see reopenings faster and I want it too. I don’t think there’s a single person who disagrees. We want indoor lunch, we want open gyms, we want sport for children and other things to return to normal but we have to do it in a safe environment, without running the risk of going back to the days when everything is closed” said Tory.

Meanwhile, Fire Chief Matthew Pegg, who is the chairman of the vaccine task force in Toronto, denounced an alarming increase in threatening behavior toward clinic staff over the course of the week, by individuals showing up for appointments asking to receive a specific vaccine. And this happens because of a delay in the arrival of a quantity of Pfizer vaccines: although vaccines can be interchangeable, many people do not intend to receive a second dose other than the first.

Pegg said aggressive attitudes must stop, especially as Toronto is moving to a new model in which – based solely on availability – it will administer “interchangeably” both Pfizer and Moderna.” Aggressive and threatening behavior, insults and expressions of anger towards clinic staff will not be tolerated for any reason. Our teams, along with clinic security personnel, will immediately intervene and remove anyone who adopts any kind of inappropriate or aggressive behavior towards staff or other individuals.”

Soon, Pegg added, people who show up at city clinics will receive any available mRNA vaccine and won’t have the opportunity to choose their vaccine in advance.

During this month Canada will receive 11 million doses of the Modern vaccine and about nine million doses of Pfizer. “This will provide 70,000 appointments for the week of July 5 and about 90,000 the following week,” Pegg concluded.

In the pic: Toronto Mayor John Tory visiting the clinic set up at Cloverdale Mall in Etobicoke (twitter John Tory)