Pilot project bringing COVID-19 vaccine directly to Toronto high-risk seniors

By Michael Ranger

A new pilot project aims to bring the COVID-19 vaccine to some of Toronto’s most vulnerable residents.

Residents living in three of the city’s high-risk seniors buildings will see teams of health care workers go door-to-door within the facilities to administer the first doses to anyone who is eligible.

The project launched on Tuesday, and will see approximately 500 residents and health care workers given the shot over a course of three days.

The three buildings involved were chosen based on the congregate care settings present, the amount of health care services delivered in the residences and the large proportion of senior residents over the age of 80. Each building has been identified by the province as a high priority for vaccinations:

  • Jack Layton Seniors Housing (1070 Queen Street East)
  • St. Matthew’s Bracondale House (707 St. Clair West)
  • Senior Housing Unit Building, Toronto Community Housing (6250 Bathurst Street)

 


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“This pilot will bring the COVID vaccine to seniors at high risk of contracting and becoming seriously ill from COVID-19,” said Dr. Rebecca Stoller, a family physician with North York Toronto Health Partners (NYTHP). “This experience will help us design the most effective approaches to vaccinating as many seniors as possible.”

The mobile vaccinations will be carried out by three Ontario health teams, East Toronto Health Partners (ETHP), Mid-West Toronto OHT and NYTHP. Once the project wraps, the three teams will share lessons learned on how to efficiently deliver vaccines to help optimize mobile vaccinations moving forward as the province ramps up its vaccine rollout.

“We understand there is strength in numbers when it comes to ensuring as many of our priority populations receive the COVID-19 vaccine as safely, easily and quickly as possible,” said Sarah Downey, President and CEO at Michael Garron Hospital (MGH) and a member of ETHP.

At Monday’s COVID-19 briefing, Toronto mayor John Tory said the weekly positivity rate in long-term care homes had dropped significantly since November.

The City’s medical officer of health, Dr. Eileen de Villa says the numbers show “the power of vaccines” but she says it’s not time yet to ease up on visiting restrictions in long-term care homes, even for people with both their doses.

Canada is receiving an influx of COVID-19 vaccine doses this week, as the country moves to speed up its vaccination efforts and officials in Ontario have said the province will have the capacity to inoculate nearly 40,000 residents per day once the supply is available.

“We don’t think we can get at it right in the first week or 10 days of March but by the middle of March, we want to be able to start vaccinating those 80 years of age and older and we will be reaching out to them in the next week to two weeks to tell them when their opportunity is going to be,” said Gen. Rick Hillier.

Toronto and Peel are preparing for the sped up vaccination rollout with multiple mass vaccination clinics set to open up in the region once the vaccine supply is available.

As of 8:00 p.m. Monday, 585,707 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the province and 247,042 people have been fully vaccinated.

Ontario reported 975 new COVID-19 cases and 12 additional deaths on Tuesday.

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