TORONTO: The Toronto Zoo mobile clinic in partnership with the Scarborough Health Network (SHN) and the Scarborough Ontario Health Team (SOHT) had a busy time last week and this week, with hundreds of children and adults getting vaccinated.
Mayor John Tory, Councillor Joe Cressy (Spadina-Fort York), Chair of the Toronto Board of Health, and Councillor Jennifer McKelvie (Scarborough-Rouge Park) joined SHN partners at the Toronto Zoo to welcome children and families to the clinic and remind families of the importance of getting their kids vaccinated.
Toronto Zoo’s one-day COVID-19 vaccination clinic was open for children age five to 11 years old and included complementary admission to the Zoo with their vaccination appointment. This clinic is part of an ongoing effort from SHN, SOHT and other local partners to bring the COVID-19 vaccine to the Scarborough community through vaccine clinic sites and mobile vaccine teams.
The City had announced earlier that Team Toronto is ramping up its total vaccination capacity to more than 1.2 million doses per month. Mayor Tory thanked SHN President and CEO Elizabeth Buller as well as the SHN team, and Toronto Zoo CEO Dolf DeJong and the Zoo team for hosting this COVID-19 vaccine event at an appealing venue for children aged five to 11 years old.
He also thanked the families and superhero children who registered to attend this fun, child-friendly clinic. Given the threat posed by the Omicron variant, there is a critical need for all eligible Toronto residents to get their first, second or third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
There are a growing number of Team Toronto vaccine clinics operating across the city for children age aged five to 11 years old to get their first dose and for those 12 and older to get their first, second or third dose (when eligible).
Vaccine eligibility guidelines are available on the City of Toronto’s Vaccine Eligibility & Doses webpage: www. toronto.ca/home/covid-19/covid19-vaccines/covid-19-vaccineeligibility-doses/. City-run clinics at Cloverdale Mall, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Mitchell Field Arena, Scarborough Town Centre and Woodbine Mall are open Tuesdays to Saturdays and will soon expand hours by returning to a seven-days-a-week basis.
These five clinics offer first, second and third doses (for those eligible) to people born in 2016 and earlier by appointment only, which can be arranged through the provincial booking system at https://covid-19.ontario.ca/book-vaccine/.
Additional options for children aged five to 11 years old are sites run by hospitals, Ontario Health teams, community health centres, 110 primary care providers and paediatricians, and 240 pharmacies across the city. More information is available on the City’s COVID-19: Children & Vaccines webpage: www.toronto.ca/home/ covid-19/covid-19-vaccines/covid-19-children