With more than 60,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered to Toronto residents between five and 11 years of age, the City of Toronto is continuing its efforts to connect parents and caregivers to the information they need about paediatric vaccinations through its VaxTO campaign.
The City will host two telephone town halls where residents can ask questions of an Associate Medical Officer of Health from Toronto Public Health and a paediatrician from the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). The telephone town halls are scheduled for Tuesday, December 14 at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday, December 18 at 1 p.m.
Continuing its evidence-informed approach, approximately 500,000 residents will receive a broadcast voice message from Mayor John Tory with information about the telephone town halls, as well as the ability to connect to appointments and other resources about first, second and third doses. Those contacted represent communities across Toronto, with a focus on neighbourhoods where vaccination uptake has been historically below the City’s overall average.
Residents can join the telephone town halls by calling 1-833-490-0778 or by tuning in via webstream.
Since its launch in the spring, the VaxTO campaign has helped connect thousands of residents with COVID-19 vaccination information and resources through a variety of targeted, multilingual outreach methods. This includes sending approximately 1.3 million broadcast voice messages to phone numbers across the city in seven different languages, making more than 50,000 phone calls to residents through the call centre and receiving more than 17,000 text messages through the text line, which offers 14 different language navigation options. A total of 10 telephone town halls ranging from city-wide, to ward- and language-specific, have also been hosted with approximately 100,000 total attendees. Most recently, the campaign focused on converting all eligible first dose recipients to become fully vaccinated, second-dose recipients, connecting directly by telephone with close to 15,000 residents, tackling a variety of vaccine hesitancy and accessibility concerns.
Residents can learn more about telephone town halls, find a City clinic or pharmacy location and be linked to more information by texting “VACCINE” to 1-833-750-0888. This service is offered in 14 languages.
Quotes:
“As we head into the holiday season, now is a critical time to help connect caregivers with the information they need to help encourage them to get their children vaccinated. The VaxTO campaign has successfully helped residents access vaccine information and encourage vaccine uptake. I invite all Toronto residents to join one of the upcoming town halls, where we will share the latest information on the City’s COVID-19 vaccination program for five to 11 year olds and answer as many live questions as possible. This latest series of telephone town halls is just another way the City continues its efforts to inform residents and remove barriers to vaccination.”
– Mayor John Tory
“We launched the VaxTO campaign last spring to break down barriers, build trust, and to help Torontonians access vaccines. It’s been a tremendous success. Now, we’re using our VaxTO infrastructure – telephone town halls, voice mail broadcasts, text messaging – to help get our kids vaccinated. These telephone town halls enable parents and caregivers to ask the questions they need answered directly of medical experts. This is part of our commitment to reaching everyone, in every area across our city, and making sure that they have access to the information, resources, and supports they need when it comes to vaccination.”
– Councillor Joe Cressy (Spadina-Fort York), Chair of the Toronto Board of Health
Toronto is home to more than 2.9 million people whose diversity and experiences make this great city Canada’s leading economic engine and one of the world’s most diverse and livable cities. As the fourth largest city in North America, Toronto is a global leader in technology, finance, film, music, culture and innovation, and consistently places at the top of international rankings due to investments championed by its government, residents and businesses. For more information visit the City’s website or follow us on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.