All Ontarians Will Have Access To Life Changing Vaccines By June 20

Wow. This is the best news we’ve had since the realization of effective vaccines.  This news gives us a tangible timeline of when we might be able to start transitioning back to what our lives used to look like.

CP24: The Ford government says that it expects to administer the first dose of COVID-19 vaccines to all Ontarians over the age of 60 by the end of May, a full two months ahead of schedule, and the first dose to all Ontarians by the beginning of summer.

Premier Doug Ford, along with Health Minister Christine Elliott, Solicitor General Sylvia Jones, Dr. David Williams, chief medical officer of health and retired Gen. Rick Hillier, chair of Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccination task force, provided an update on Phase Two of the rollout plan Friday afternoon.

Phase Two is scheduled to start in April and run until July. The government says approximately nine million Ontarians are expected to receive their first dose of an approved vaccine during this time.

Ontarians aged 60 to 79 years old are placed at the top of the prioritization ladder in Phase Two, representing 2.5 million people.

“In this last three to five days, we’ve had a seismic shift in our vaccination opportunities and in our program to roll it out,” Hillier said.

Seniors will continue to receive the Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna vaccines while those under 64 will start receiving the newly approved AstraZeneca vaccine as early as next week.

Hillier added that the government also aims to administer the first dose to all Ontarians by the beginning of summer, a notable and encouraging bump in the timeline compared to the previously announced September target.

“I want to say by the first day of summer we want to have, vaccine supply dependent, we want to have a first needle in the arms of every person in Ontario who is eligible for the vaccine and wants to get,” he stated.

Hillier acknowledged that the approval of two more COVID-19 vaccines in Canada in the past two weeks, along with more shipments coming into the province is a positive sign that the rollout plan is ramping up.

Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine got approval yesterday, making Canada the first country with four potential vaccines in circulation, which brings us to a September vaccine total of 118 million doses for 35 million Canadians.  Here in Ontario, we’ve managed to secure almost 20 million doses.  We expect 8 million by month-end with another 10-15 million doses expected before the end of May which means every adult in Ontario under the age of 59 will have access to their first jab by July according to General Rick Hillier who everyone fucking hates for some reason.

June 20 is the new V-Day according to Ontario’s vaccine boss. The province is aiming to complete the first round of vaccinations by the first day of summer.

Not everyone thinks this timeline is possiblehttps://t.co/PKHzm5WDrL

— Hamilton Spectator (@TheSpec) March 6, 2021

Canada is in the process of securing millions of doses from AstraZeneca and J&J on top of the retro orders from Pfizer and Moderna who’ve moved up the delivery schedule for their vaccines too which represents a massive shift in the supply and demand issue we’ve been experiencing.

It’s the best news we’ve had since the realization of effective vaccines and gives us a tangible timeline of when we might be able to start transitioning back to what our lives used to look like.

Forget politics and blame, we are a couple of months away from legitimately getting our lives back.

You’ll be able to have dinner, out.

You’ll be allowed to play pickleball and your kids will get back to baseball and hockey.  We won’t have to publicly shame people for wearing or not wearing masks and this guy couldn’t be more elated at the opportunity to sit down at the Duchess of Markham for Lemon Pepper wings with suicide sauce on the side, with my sons and their friends, on the back patio during a beautiful Saturday in July.

Hang in there, friends.  It’s coming.

DB