Ontario Updates Vaccine Schedule: Over-60s To Be Done In May
TORONTO — The next phase of Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccination plan will see shots administered based on risk factors including age, neighbourhood, existing health conditions and inability to work from home.
Here's Ontario's new sped-up COVID-19 vaccination schedule.
— Emma Paling (@emmapaling) March 5, 2021
Over-60s should all be vaccinated by end of May. Essential workers will be eligible in June #onpolipic.twitter.com/R6fjYLFRU9
Officials presented the updated vaccination timeline today, noting that it does not factor in the newly approved Johnson & Johnson shot and additional doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine.
Shots will go to seniors 75 and older starting in April with a goal of offering first shots to everyone 60 and older by the end of May.
Doses will also be offered starting in April to people with specific health conditions and some caregivers, including those in congregate settings.
These are the workers who can get vaccinated in June.
— Emma Paling (@emmapaling) March 5, 2021
Teachers, agricultural, manufacturing workers make the list, as do workers in high-risk retail settings like grocery stores pic.twitter.com/tiK8FBWQC4
Thirteen public health units, including Toronto, Windsor, York and Peel, will receive additional doses doses for hot spot neighbourhoods between April and June.
Essential workers who can’t work from home will be offered doses at the end of Phase 2, while adults 59 and younger are expected to receive the shot in July, though the timeline is subject to change.
The head of Ontario’s vaccine task force retired general Rick Hillier said he wants to “have the first needle in the arms of every person in Ontario who is eligible for the vaccine and who wants to get it” by the first day of summer, depending on supply.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 5, 2021.
With files from HuffPost Canada