The Team Toronto Sprint Strategy mobile and pop-up clinics have been providing vaccine access and improving equity in priority communities for more than a month. In that time, vaccination coverage in the 17 hot spot postal codes targeted by the strategy has grown steadily, now surpassing the vaccination of 50 per cent of adults in many areas.
The Sprint Strategy initially rolled out to 13 neighbourhoods, identified by postal code. Across these initial areas, vaccination coverage in adults has increased by an average of more than seven percentage points each week:
On May 3, the City announced Team Toronto added four new postal code areas in east Toronto for Sprint Strategy mobile and pop-up clinics: M1B, M1M, M1P and M1L. The vaccination coverage in the four areas has now caught up to other Sprint Strategy postal codes – reaching 51.6 per cent vaccination coverage in adults.
The City of Toronto and Team Toronto vaccination partners continue to prioritize postal code areas with high rates of COVID-19 for mobile and pop-up clinic vaccinations. This week, 117,610 doses of vaccine have been allocated to the Sprint Strategy.
This week, Toronto Public Health and Team Toronto partners are adding five new postal code areas for Sprint Strategy mobile and pop-up clinics:
These areas have high neighbourhood-level case rates – COVID-19 infection rates and hospitalization rates per 100,000 surpassing the average across Toronto – and low vaccine coverage rates. Toronto Public Health estimates there are 94,984 unvaccinated people age 18 and older in the five new postal code areas.
The 22 postal code areas prioritized in the Sprint Strategy are now:
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Vaccination at community mobile or pop-up clinics is available to anyone age 18 or older living in the 22 areas. Hospital and community partners intentionally promote community clinics only to the specific neighbourhoods that the clinic is meant to serve. Clinics are brought to the attention of eligible local residents directly through primary care physicians like family doctors, employers, building managers, faith leaders and other local leaders, who are directly connected with the people the community clinics will serve. It is usually not possible to book an appointment online or by phone for a pop-up or mobile clinic.
There are first dose appointments available at City-operated immunization clinics. Anyone 18 or older living in one of the provincially-designated 53 hot spot Toronto postal codes is eligible to book a vaccination appointment at a City-operated immunization clinic. All postal codes prioritized in the Toronto Sprint Strategy are also included on the provincial hot spot list and eligible to book an appointment immediately at a City-operated clinic through the dark blue “Book a Vaccine” button on toronto.ca/covid-19 or by calling the provincial vaccine booking line at 1-833-943-3900.
Any eligible individual looking for the soonest appointment in the provincial booking system is advised to check appointment times at the Toronto Congress Centre, Cloverdale Mall and The Hangar clinic locations. All clinics offer free parking and are fully accessible. Transit options are also available:
Appointments at all City-operated clinics must be booked in advance through the provincial booking system.
As Toronto continues the rollout of mass immunization, to reduce and eliminate the transmission of COVID-19, protect the healthcare system and save lives, the City continues to urge all residents to stay home as much as possible to help stop the spread of the virus. Please review the City’s COVID-19: Guide for Residents for recommended and mandatory public health measures under provincial regulations and City bylaws.
Quotes:
“The Team Toronto Sprint Strategy is working and it is making a difference. We are announcing today that we are again expanding our Sprint Strategy that focuses on the hottest hot spots in the city to include five additional postal codes. This will ensure more than 100,000 vaccine doses will be available for mobile and pop-up clinics in 22 of our hottest hot spot postal codes. We are seeing double-digit percentage increases in vaccination rates in the areas where we have focused. Thank you to everyone involved in the Sprint Strategy for the work you have done and the work that I know you will continue to do to get people vaccinated in the areas where we know COVID-19 is having its worst impact. This strategy is making sure we get shots in the right arms, right now.”
– Mayor John Tory
“Our Team Toronto Sprint Strategy is getting results. In areas that the city has prioritized for mobile and pop-up clinics, first-dose vaccination rates have risen from 14 per cent to 49 per cent. This approach is getting shots into the arms of our most vulnerable. By adding new areas to the strategy, the City, along with our health and hospital partners, are able to reach the people and communities that have been hit hardest by this pandemic, and ensure they have quick and easy access to life-saving vaccines.”
– Councillor Joe Cressy (Spadina-Fort York), Chair of the Board of Health
“In the excitement in counting needles in arms, we may forget that our real goal is the health outcomes of vaccination: people protected from severe and life-threatening illness and reduced spread of COVID-19 among those yet to be vaccinated. As with so many aspects of the pandemic, the pop-up and mobile clinics have emerged unexpectedly as a real success story and I want to thank the people who’ve helped to make that happen: our hospital partners, the Ontario Health Teams, and in particular the community leaders and organizations that have been so effective at reaching out to the communities and especially at communicating with them to encourage vaccine uptake and address hesitancy.”
– Dr. Eileen de Villa, Medical Officer of Health
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