Toronto venue sets record vaccination drive

Article posted by Coliseum, July 1^st, 2021

Image: Scotiabank Arena

A mass vaccination clinic held at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto (Canada) on June 27^th administered close to 27,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, setting a new North American single-day record.

‘Toronto City News’ stated that public health officials say 26,771 jabs were given to more than 25,000 adults and almost 1,300 youth as part of the ‘Our Winning Shot’ initiative, breaking the previous record of 17,003 set back in April at the 1,81,655-capacity Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas (US).

The 19,800-capacity Scotiabank Arena, formerly Air Canada Centre, is a multipurpose arena located on Bay Street in the South Core district of Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the home of the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL).

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Officials say they eclipsed the Canadian record with 10,470 doses, which was set back in May at a Thorncliffe Park clinic.

Toronto Mayor John Tory tweeted that they had reached their goal of administering 25,000 doses.

‘Toronto City News’ further stated that a total of 981 first doses were given out while 25,793 second doses were administered. Mayor Tory himself received his second dose on June 27^th. He got the Moderna shot after receiving AstraZeneca for his first dose back on April 10^th.

Tory told those waiting to get vaccinated at the clinic, trying to allay concerns about mixing doses – “I had my first dose with AstraZeneca and I had my second dose with Moderna and I just want people to know because there are people that have a lot of questions about this, it’s been a bit confusing. It’s safe to do what I did, what some of you did – I wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t safe.”

The majority of shots given at the clinic were Moderna, while doses of Pfizer were reserved for anyone in the age bracket of 12 and 17.

Toronto has administered more than 3.2 million vaccine doses since the start of the immunization campaign with 76 percent of Torontonians having received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine while more than 35 percent have now been fully vaccinated.

As of June 26^th, anyone aged between 12 to 17 who live in Durham, Halton, Hamilton, Peel, Porcupine, Simcoe-Muskoka, Toronto, Waterloo, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph, and York are eligible to book their accelerated second vaccine dose appointments.

All adults who received a first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine at least eight weeks ago or a first dose of Moderna or Pfizer vaccine at least 28 days ago will now be eligible to book an accelerated second dose.

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