Toronto lowering vaccination age to 70-plus, appointments open Saturday

Mayor John Tory says the City is expanding COVID-19 vaccine availability to those 70-and-up and born in 1951 and earlier as of Saturday.

The City says starting tomorrow at 8:00 a.m., seniors aged 70 or older in 2021 will be able to register to book a COVID-19 vaccination appointment.

Appointments for the lowered age group will be available at three of the City’s current mass immunization clinics and two additional City clinics as of Monday.

Available as of Saturday:

• Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 255 Front St. W.
• Toronto Congress Centre, 650 Dixon Rd.
• Scarborough Town Centre, 300 Borough Dr.

Available as of Monday (March 29):

• Malvern Community Recreation Centre, 30 Sewells Rd.
• Mitchell Field Arena, 89 Church Ave.

The mass immunization clinic at the East York Town Centre will also be accepting bookings for seniors age 70 and older, the City says.

“We are leading Ontario in getting shots in arms and we aren’t going to stop until everyone that wants a vaccine, gets one. We are continuing to ramp up our clinic capacity as more vaccine supply comes in from the Government of Canada,” said Mayor Tory on Friday.

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“We are vaccinating thousands of people a day in the city but we now have capacity for more. As we announced earlier today, we have almost 30,000 appointments available over the coming week for people to get vaccinated. We need people to sign up.”

Some of Toronto’s hospital-based COVID-19 vaccination clinics also expanded vaccines to residents age 70 and older this week.

Toronto Fire Chief Matthew Pegg, who is leading the City’s vaccine task force, says the number of residents signing up for vaccines has been decreasing since the city opened up bookings to those aged 75 and older earlier this week.

Tory says the City has almost 30,000 appointments available over the coming week and encouraged those eligible to get their shots.

Eligible seniors can book appointments through the “Book a Vaccine” button on toronto.ca/covid-19 or book by phone through the Provincial Vaccine Information Line at 1-888-999-6488.

“We need people to get vaccinated. The sooner we are all vaccinated, the sooner this pandemic will be over,” added Tory.

“That’s why we are pushing so hard to encourage people who are eligible to get vaccinated right now – don’t wait.”

The province says as of Thursday night, more than 71 percent of Ontario residents aged 80 and over have received at least one dose of the vaccine.