How Peel Region went from COVID-19 hotspot to vaccination haven

Peel Region held its weekly COVID-19 briefing Thursday morning with Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie saying Peel, as a whole, is in a very enviable position compared to jurisdictions around the world.

Why? Vaccines, she says. Daily infections cases are down, vaccinations are up, and that could see mass vaccination clinics beginning to close in the region.

“This is a good news story, and it shows that our mass vaccination clinics have done their job getting the majority of our people vaccinated,” Crombie started.

“On July 26, the mass vaccination clinic at the International Centre will close. The following day, Trillium’s UTM clinic will also close. Public health will provide updates in the coming weeks on when our other mass vaccination clinics are expected to cease their operations.”

When it comes to numbers, over two million vaccines have been administered in Peel Region. Nearly 80 per cent of eligible residents 12 and older have one dose, and just under 60 per cent have both.

Despite the improvement, Crombie says there is still room for growth. Public health has identified several areas in the region with lower vaccine uptake than others. More resources are being deployed to these areas to ensure everyone has easy access to the vaccine, she says.

“The progress we have made over the last few months is outstanding,” the mayor says. “I am pleased that we are now in Step 3 and have seen more and more reopenings over the last week… I do, however, encourage residents to continue to remain vigilant.”

Peel Region COVID-19 data:

The growth seen in Peel Region is significant if you factor in where the public health unit had been months prior, repeatedly hovering as a COVID-19 hotspot fuelled by community transmission.

It’s yet another example of how vaccinations make a difference as Peel Region and the province as a whole aim to fight off a fourth wave that is destined to be fuelled by the Delta variant.

Peel Region’s medical officer of health Dr. Lawrence Loh says a resurgence in the fall is likely.

“That is why we should do everything we can to ensure that we don’t give COVID another inch,” he said. “We’re done with COVID stealing things from us. We never want to go back. And in order to do that, we need everyone to get two doses of a vaccine.”

Loh says that presently, the vast majority of hospitalizations are in those unvaccinated.

“Continued susceptibility means that a surge requiring measures that threaten lives and our hospitals may well be a possibility. So I am asking each of our residents to, please, get two doses.”

Ontario reported 185 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday and seven more deaths.

Grey Bruce saw 22 of the new cases, with another 18 in Toronto, 17 in Hamilton, 13 in Peel Region and 13 in the Region of Waterloo. There were almost 19,600 tests completed in the previous day.