Sinthia Hoque:-With the province launching its own online booking system and call centre, the City of Toronto is warning of a brief interruption for those looking to book the COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday night.
According to a statement by Toronto officials in a news release on Saturday morning, the interruption is expected to begin around 8 p.m. on March 14th continuing till the following morning.
“Once the new system becomes live on Monday morning, appointments for Toronto residents that will be age 80 or older in 2021 can be made by following the registration link or phoning the call centre number that will be available at www.toronto.ca/covid-19/”.
The city will begin administrating vaccines to residents born in 1941 or earlier ( aged 80 and above) on Wednesday at three different immunization sites, which include the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto Congress Centre and Scarborough Town Centre.
“Vaccinations will also begin at the Malvern Community Recreation Centre and Mitchell Field Community Centre clinics on March 29th and at The Hangar clinic site on April 5th”, the city said.
The city started online booking for seniors on Friday and officials said that as of Saturday morning, 7,878 people had booked an appointment to be vaccinated at a city-run clinic.
According to the city, so far 239,198 COVID-19 vaccines have been administered to priority groups in Toronto.
On Saturday, some family doctors across Ontario also began administrating Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines to those between the ages of 60 and 64.
The rollout is taking place in Toronto , Hamilton, Guelph, Peterborough, Simcoe-Muskoka and Peel Region.
About 29,500 of the 194,500 AstraZeneca doses in Ontario will be given to primary care providers, officials say.
Officials also say that patients should wait for their doctors to contact them in regards to the vaccine and should not call their family doctors to schedule an appointment themselves.
Select pharmacies in Toronto, Windsor-Essex and the Kingston area will also be offering the AstraZeneca vaccine to those between ages 60 and 64.
Participating pharmacies can be found on the Ontario government website but residents may need to book an appointment through the institution individually, either by calling or signing up online.
These booking systems will differentiate from the province’s booking portal, set to launch on March 15th.
News and Picture Source: CTV
