Child COVID vaccine clinics ramping up in Ontario on Thursday

COVID-19 vaccinations for children aged five to 11 are ramping up in Ontario on Thursday.

The City of Toronto’s pediatric vaccine campaign is picking up in earnest with five kid-friendly clinics and others happening in schools and communities.

The five mass clinics are at the following locations:

• Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 255 Front St. W., North Building, Hall A
• Cloverdale Mall, 250 The East Mall
• Scarborough Town Centre, 300 Borough Dr.
• Mitchell Field Community Centre, 89 Church Ave.
• Woodbine Mall, 500 Rexdale Blvd.

More than 110 primary care providers and pediatricians offer the shot, and more than 240 pharmacies currently have pediatric doses of the vaccine available. The City says more will be coming online in the next week.

Three school-based pilot clinics will take place on Thursday, with hundreds of mobile school clinics opening in the coming weeks.

The City said 31,000 vaccine appointments for kids between the ages of five and 11 were booked on Tuesday — the first day that parents could schedule appointments for their children across Ontario. A total of 49,000 appointments will be available to kids over the next two-and-a-half weeks.

Health Minister Christine Elliott said 101,000 COVID-19 vaccine appointments had been booked for kids between the ages of five and 11 by 5 p.m. on Wednesday. That figure covers the provincial booking system and doesn’t include other bookings made through local public health units, pharmacies and primary care offices offering the shots.

Public health in Windsor, Ont., says it is also taking appointments for young kids today, and the City’s police force has said it will be on-site for planned protests at the sites.

A clinic in Hamilton is offering shots today for Indigenous people and their household members above the age of five.

Parent or guardian consent is required for kids to get the shots.

Other health units are offering the pediatric Pfizer-BioNTech shots on designated days this weekend and in the coming weeks.

Bookings opened for kids in that age group on Tuesday morning. Ten children who are patients with SickKids hospital in Toronto became the first in the province to receive the pediatric Pfizer-BioNTech doses later that day.

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With files from Michael Talbot of CityNews