Teachers in Toronto's COVID-19 hotspots are now eligible for vaccines

Education staff living or working in COVID-19 hotspots throughout Toronto and Peel are now eligible for their first dose of the vaccine.

Those who work with children with special needs anywhere in the province are also included in this early vaccination drive.

Ontario officials announced last week that teachers in priority neighbourhoods would be eligible earlier for a vaccine, and may be able to get immunized over spring break.

Teachers and other education workers who qualify can book an appointment through the province’s online portal or by calling the province’s COVID-19 vaccine call centre at 1-833-943-3900 between 8 am and 8 pm.

These are the postal codes identified as hotspots:

Mid-East Toronto

• M4X (Cabbagetown – St. James Town)
• M5A (Cabbagetown South, Regent Park, Corktown, and Moss Park)
• M5B (Area surrounding Dundas Square)

North Toronto

• M5N (Forest Hill near Allenby Junior Public School)
• M6A (Lawrence Heights – Yorkdale)

Mid-West Toronto

• M5V (Queen’s Quay, Bathurst Quay, and Fashion District)
• M6E (Along Caledonia Road between St. Clair and Eglinton)
• M6H (Near Wallace Emerson, Dover Court Park, and Dufferin Mall)

West Toronto

• M6K (Liberty Village, King West, and Little Portugal)
• M6N (Stockyards)
• M8V (Etobicoke near Colonel Samuel Smith Park)

South Etobicoke:

• M9A (Islington Avenue to Edenbridge Drive and Eglinton Avenue West to Dundas Street West)
• M9B (Highway 427 to Islington and Eglinton Avenue West to Dundas Street West)
• M9C (Just west of Highway 427 between Eglinton Avenue West and the Queen Elizabeth Expressway)

North Etobicoke:

• M9R (Richview and Kingsview Village)
• M9V (near Etobicoke General Hospital)
• M9W (Rexdale and Humber College)

East Toronto:

• M1L (Birchmount and Golden Mile)
• M4H (Thorncliffe Park)

Scarborough North:

• M1S (Agincourt)
• M1T (Sullivan)
• M1V (Agincourt North and Brimley Forest)
• M1W (L’Amoreaux)

As supply allows, Ontario will expand that eligibility to educators in other neighbourhoods.

“Our education workers are frontline champions,” Ford said at a news conference last week.

The move comes after teaching unions pressured the province to vaccinate teachers or close schools.

Ontario is currently under a second Stay-at-Home order that started last week to curb rising infections and hospitalizations.

Schools will stay open during the Stay-at-Home order, except in areas where local health units have ordered them closed. Toronto and Peel already dismissed staff and students due to COVID-19 concerns.

Ontario schools reported 217 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours. Of those, 186 are student cases.

Ontario reported more than 4,400 COVID-19 cases Monday, and ICU admissions hit their highest point in the entire pandemic.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce has encouraged all students to get a COVID-19 test over the April spring break before returning to school. He announced pharmacies will now offer asymptomatic testing to facilitate this.

• See also:
  • All Toronto schools closing as of Wednesday
  • Peel opening COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to everyone 50 and up this week
  • York Region hotspot vaccination appointments fill up in one hour

Ontario will also be conducting mobile vaccination clinics to reach residents in COVID-19 hotspots. These mobile immunization teams will visit shelters, residential buildings, high-risk workplaces, as well as churches, mosques, and synagogues, to deliver doses.

Ford hopes 40% of Ontarian adults will have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by the time the Stay-at-Home order ends in four weeks.