Give AstraZeneca vaccine to residents 18+ in hotspot areas: Ontario Liberal leader

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Published April 18, 2021 at 6:17 pm

In a statement today, Ontario Liberal leader Steven Del Duca called for the province to start using its AstraZeneca vaccine supply to vaccinate all eligible residents in hotspot areas such as Mississauga and Brampton.

“Doug Ford must release the AstraZeneca vaccine from pharmacy freezers and get it into the arms of anyone over 18 in a hotspot,” said Del Duca.

Del Duca echoed the sentiments of Canada’s health minister Patty Hajdu, who said there was nothing stopping Ford from getting shots into arms.

“Doug Ford has repeatedly blamed the federal government for his sluggish vaccine rollout. Minister Hajdu’s words were confirmation that Doug Ford cares more about votes than vaccinations,” the Ontario Liberal leader said.

The AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved for people who are 18 years of age and older. Health Canada acknowleged rare cases of blood clots related to the vaccine but maintains that the vaccine is safe overall.

“Based on Health Canada’s review of available data from Europe and from the United Kingdom and AstraZeneca, no specific risk factors have been identified,” Health Canada reported.

“Therefore, Health Canada is not restricting the use of the vaccine at this time.”

The province announced earlier this month that it would start opening up vaccinations to residents 18+ in hotspot areas, but has struggled to get those vaccines rolled out.

In a statement on Friday, Ford said Ontario would dedicate 25 per cent of future vaccine allocations to hotspot communities such as Brampton, Mississauga, Caledon and Toronto.

To date, 3,837,881 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Ontario.

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