Brampton and the rest of Peel Region ask to be first in line for next shipments of COVID vaccine

Peel Region wants to be first in line for future shipments of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Citing high incident rates for the virus here, the mayors of Brampton, Mississauga and Caledon as well as the chair of Peel Region have asked Premier Doug Ford to give priority to Peel instead of distributing the vaccine equally across the province.

“Our concern at this point is that the Province has only confirmed the delivery of 57,115 COVID-19 vaccine doses until the end of January,” they said in a letter to Ford. “While we understand the initial pilots have focussed on Ottawa and Toronto, with upcoming large rollouts we would ask that great consideration be given to Peel in your next vaccine allocation given our situation and Provincial commitment to prioritize regions with the highest rates of COVID-19 infection.”

The letter specifically points out that Peel has a larger population than Ottawa and has been harder hit by the virus. The mayors are also calling on Queen’s Park to provide financial support in setting up three mass vaccination centres to make sure as many people as possible can be treated.

Peel Region currently has one of the highest rates of COVID in the country with a positivity rate of 13.7 per cent of all those tested and intensive care units at hospitals in both Brampton and Mississauga are almost at full capacity.