More than half of Ontario adults are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 - CTV Toronto

TORONTO -- More than half of Ontario adults have received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.

On Thursday, officials confirmed that just over 51 per cent of people aged 18 and up are now considered fully vaccinated. More than 78 per cent of adults in Ontario have received at least one shot.

“Ontario has continued to maintain a fast pace, taking less than two weeks to get from 50 to 60 per cent of Ontario adults having received their first dose,” officials said in a presentation ahead of an announcement provided by Health Minister Christine Elliott Thursday morning.

“It had taken less than two weeks to get from 40 to 50 per cent as well.”

Ontario has administered 195,150 doses of vaccine a day on average, officials say.

The province expecting to receive about five million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in July to aide in the continuation of the vaccine rollout. This is in addition to the more than 1.6 million doses of Moderna received this week.

All Ontarians aged 12 and up are now eligible to book a second shot through the provincial booking site.

Canada has not yet approved a vaccine for children under the age of 12.

The province has said it is working with local public health units and community organizers to help encourage residents to get the shots, adding that the vast majority of new cases may be attributed to lack of vaccinations.

On Tuesday, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore said that 83.2 per cent of new COVID-19 cases between May 15 and June 12 were in individuals who were not vaccinated. Officials say that partially vaccinated and breakthrough cases—infections that occur two weeks following a first dose and seven days after a second dose—represent a small number of new infections.

Only about 0.4 per cent of cases between May 15 and June 12 were in people who received two shots of a vaccine.

Public health units to get access to sociodemographic data

Officials have said they will make de-identified sociodemographic data collected throughout the the vaccination process available to public health units (PHU).

The data will be shared through IntelliHealth, a provincial tool already being used by local PHUs to access vaccine information.

The data includes information on race, ethnic origin, language, household income and household size.

The ministry will be scheduling information sessions for PHUs on data availability and use.

This is a breaking news story. More to come.

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More than half of Ontario adults are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 - CTV Toronto
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