Second dose eligiblity expands in Ontario Delta hot spots

Hundreds of thousands more Ontario residents in the Delta variant hot spots, including the entire GTA, become eligible to move up their second COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday.

The province is accelerating second shot appointments for anyone that received a first dose of an mRNA vaccine on or before May 30 living in any of the following 10 Delta hot spot regions:

• Toronto
• Peel Region
• Halton
• York
• Durham
• Hamilton
• Porcupine
• Waterloo
• Wellington-Dufferin
• Simcoe-Muskoka

 

Starting at 8 a.m. appointments can be made through the province’s online booking portal and through local health units that use their own booking system.

The province says that starting sometime next week, it plans to allow all adults who received a first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna’s product to book a second appointment as soon as 28 days after their initial shot.

Ontario sped up second dose appointments on Monday for anyone who received their first dose of an mRNA vaccine (Pfizer of Moderna) on or before May 9.

As of June 12, individuals who received their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine are able to get their second dose in eight weeks rather than 12 weeks.

Those who got AstraZeneca as a first dose have the option of getting a second dose of the same vaccine or an mRNA vaccine, either Pfizer or Moderna.

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Ontarians are being urged to take whichever mRNA vaccine is offered to them amid shipment delays from Pfizer this week.

Public health officials continue to stress that both Pfizer and Moderna are interchangeable and there is “no important difference” between the two, which both use similar mRNA technology.

Toronto officials say they will continue with appointments already booked at city-run clinics over the next few weeks and will increase the administration of Moderna vaccines.

The city says the limited supply of Pfizer doses will be used to vaccinate anyone under the age of 18 as it is the only vaccine approved for use in Canada for anyone in that age bracket.

Peel Public Health also says the Moderna vaccine will be administered in its clinics until at least June 24, saving its supply of Pfizer doses for those between the ages of 12 to 17.

As of 8:00 p.m. Monday, over 75 per cent of Ontario residents 12 and older have received at least one dose, while 24.3 per cent are now fully vaccinated.

The City of Toronto reached another vaccination milestone on Tuesday announcing that 60 per cent of youth, aged 12 to 17, have now received their first dose.