Toronto's first large-scale, non-hospital COVID-19 vaccination site will open next Monday, January 19th, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, ahead of schedule.
Mayor John Tory confirmed the news today, saying the request had been made over the holidays by the province, for the city to examine if it could get a site open early.
"There was no better way to start 2021 than with an urgent call about how we could help speed up vaccine rollout to our vaccine workers," he said, saying the opening will be a few weeks early.
The workers will be those in the city's shelters, as well as in harm reduction and outreach programs.
As for capacity, Fire Chief Matthew Pegg said based on the number of vaccines available, the plan is 250 first doses of the vaccine per day for three weeks, followed by the second doses the next three weeks after.
"This accelerate immunization clinic is fully scaleable," Pegg said. "The scope of operations can be increased quickly, should the availability of vaccine increase as we move forward."
Officials say the site will serve as a blueprint for non-hospital sites as vaccine production and distribution increases.
"This is a huge step forward and will give us on the ground experience, the kind of on the ground experience we need to finish planning details around the rest of the immunization sites," he said.
According to Ontario's COVID19 vaccination page, 8,859 doses were administered yesterday, for a total of 122,105 total doses given, with 5,884 total vaccinations complete.