Toronto opens up 375,000 new COVID-19 vaccine appointments for July - CBC.ca

The City of Toronto says it is opening up 375,000 new vaccine appointments over the next three weeks.

Mayor John Tory says 125,000 appointments will be added for the weeks of July 5, 12 and 19, and will be available for booking starting Tuesday at 8 a.m.

The new spots come as more Ontarians became eligible for second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine on Monday.

Any residents 18 and older who received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines at least 28 days ago, or the AstraZeneca vaccine at least eight weeks ago, can now book their second shots. 

Toronto, however, is ahead of the province's schedule. Any residents in the city ages 12 and older are eligible book their second doses as of Monday morning, provided they meet the same criteria on when they received their first dose.

Meanwhile, hundreds of volunteers administered nearly 27,000 COVID-19 vaccines at a mass clinic at Toronto's Scotiabank Arena on Sunday, in what the city is calling a new North American record.

Tory was among the 26,771 people who received a vaccine at the "Our Winning Shot" event at the home arena of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors.

WATCH | Inside Toronto's record-breaking COVID-19 vaccine clinic:

Toronto broke the North American record for delivering the most COVID-19 vaccinations at a single site in a single day. Roughly 25,0000 people went to Scotiabank Arena to roll up their sleeves and push the city over the top. 1:46

The city said it broke the previous record at about 8 p.m., when 17,004 doses had been administered. Texas held that record with 17,003 shots administered at a drive-thru clinic on April 30.

The clinic ran into the late evening and offered walk-in appointments for the last several hours.

That's a wrap on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TorontoVaccineDay?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TorontoVaccineDay</a>!<br><br>Tally of doses administered: 26,771<br><br>Big thank you to everyone on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TeamToronto?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TeamToronto</a> for bringing today together and the 26,771 people who came out to get their shot. <a href="https://t.co/l4EAYSKTvU">pic.twitter.com/l4EAYSKTvU</a>

&mdash;@JohnTory

Adults were given the Moderna vaccine, while adolescents aged 12-17 were given Pfizer.

Tory said some 800 staff and volunteers helped make the day run smoothly. 

"I wasn't too hung up on whether we set records or not, but I just thought the notion of having thousands of vaccinations take place on a given day — at such an important stage with our battle against COVID-19 — very important," Tory said at a news conference Monday. 

'We want to move to Step 3 as soon as possible' 

Toronto has administered more than 3.3 million vaccine doses since the start of the immunization campaign. Some 35 per cent of adults in the city have been fully vaccinated. 

The city and its health-care partners are operating a total of 36 vaccine clinics Monday. 

Ontario is set to move into Step 2 of the government's reopening plan on Wednesday. 

Tory says getting people fully vaccinated will be crucial in moving to the next step. 

'We want to move to Step 3 as soon as possible." 

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Toronto opens up 375,000 new COVID-19 vaccine appointments for July - CBC.ca
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