Ontario moves into Phase 2 of COVID-19 vaccination

Ontario is moving into Phase 2 of its COVID-19 immunization strategy effective immediately, Premier Doug Ford announced Tuesday.

“We’re focusing on protecting those at highest risk, and we’re immediately targeting hotspot postal codes to try and get this wave under control,” he said from Seneca College in Toronto, where there is a vaccination clinic.

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The province is focusing on essential workers and people living in neighbourhoods disproportionately impacted by the virus, officials explained in a technical briefing Tuesday.

Somewhere between 2.4 and 2.8 million people live in hotspot postal codes, and some of them may overlap for an early vaccine with other risk factors such as their age.

Government of Ontario

The province has a target of administering 100,000 vaccine doses per day by the end of April.

Ford added he’s troubled by what he saw over the Easter long weekend, including crowds at retail stores during the province-wide shutdown. The top doctors for Toronto, Peel, and Ottawa are calling for the province to implement a stricter provincial Stay-at-Home order to curb transmission.

Ontario reported 3,065 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, bringing the provincial total to 367,602 infections.