Ontario considers allocating 50% of vaccine supply to hotspots in Toronto, Peel

Ontario’s Health Minister says the government is strongly considering a recommendation brought forward by the province’s science advisory table to allocate roughly 50 percent of its vaccine supply to COVID-19 hotspots.

Christine Elliott said Monday the province is weighing the proposal, which said earmarking shots based on transmission rate rather than age group would bring down COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths.

Elliott said the province has so far been held back by its limited supply of vaccines, particularly in light of delayed shipments from Moderna and Oxford-AstraZeneca.

But Ontario expects to receive “much higher levels of doses” from Pfizer-BioNTech, which could allow for a shift in its immunization strategy, the minister said, adding the province will make a decision on the issue “very shortly.”

“Just by targeting vaccines on hotspots, we can prevent 20 percent of SARS-CoV2 infections in folks 16-59 years old – and 18 percent infections overall,” Ontario’s Science Advisory Table says.

The science table has insisted that vaccine “hotspotting” is an effective way to target many essential workers in areas disproportionately affected with higher COVID-19 transmission.

“Early analysis of Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout reveals inequities in vaccine coverage across the province, with residents of higher risk neighbourhoods being least likely to get vaccinated,” they added.

“Accelerating the vaccination of COVID-19 hotspots and essential workers will prevent considerably more SARS-CoV-2 infections and COVID-19 hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and deaths as compared with Ontario’s initial mass vaccination strategy.”

The science advisory table says a stronger focus on hotspots ultimately protects “all of us,” as vaccinations help with the transmission of the virus.

“We don’t want to take vaccines away from any groups right now if we were to go to the 50 percent (allocation for hot spots),” Elliott said.

“But starting next week, should we decide to move forward with that, we would have a much larger allocation of vaccines to be able to put into those hot-spot areas.”

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Elliott says Peel Region currently has 25 COVID-19 hotspots and will be receiving additional vaccines as early next week once the province secures additional supply.

The government is also seeking to have “several” pharmacies administer the Pfizer shot as part of a pilot project meant to help mitigate the impact of a shortage of AstraZeneca vaccines.

Officials are also looking into how to manage the specific storage and transportation requirements for the Pfizer vaccine, which has so far limited its distribution to hospitals and other such settings, the minister said.

Ontario pharmacies have been administering the AstraZeneca vaccine to those 40 and older.

“When we immunize essential workers, we also protect everyone around them,” the science table said.

Recent evidence indicates that COVID-19 vaccines not only protect directly against symptomatic coronavirus but also against asymptomatic infection and against transmission to others.

Toronto and Peel are reporting the highest percent positivity and case incidence per 100,000 people across Ontario’s public health units as of Monday.

Ontario reported 3,510 new cases of COVID-19 today and 24 more related deaths.

Elliott says 1,015 new cases are in Toronto, 909 in Peel Region, and 391 in York Region. She also says 244 new cases are in Durham Region and 206 in Ottawa.

The province says more than 69,000 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine have been administered since yesterday’s report.

Toronto is expected to announce its first workplace closures today under new rules meant to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Both Toronto and Peel’s public health units introduced the rules last week.

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With files from The Canadian Press