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PinkLucy said:
Health units and family docs have done vaccine rollouts for years, but for some reason this was ignored with health units being brought in late to the game and family docs hardly at all. Just one of many head scratchers. (The initial super freezer temps did play a role early on)
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It probably has to do with the existing pandemic response plan the City of Toronto and Province had at their disposal.

Keep in mind this was never a seat of the pants scenario. The City of Toronto was rehearsing their pandemic response plan in 2019 in the event it was needed.

It may be that they wanted to centralize distribution of a vaccine to avoid spreading out their supplies too much. Supply chain wise it is easier to manage.

Perhaps @Northern Light can correct me but no doubt various levels of government have approved plans for every emergency scenario from Flood to Chernobyl.
 
Richard White said:
It probably has to do with the existing pandemic response plan the City of Toronto and Province had at their disposal.

Keep in mind this was never a seat of the pants scenario. The City of Toronto was rehearsing their pandemic response plan in 2019 in the event it was needed.

It may be that they wanted to centralize distribution of a vaccine to avoid spreading out their supplies too much. Supply chain wise it is easier to manage.

Perhaps @Northern Light can correct me but no doubt various levels of government have approved plans for every emergency scenario from Flood to Chernobyl.
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I haven't looked into this issue in any detail.

Certainly there are many types of emergency plans at all levels of government.

That said, I strongly suspect many have not been read by anyone since the last version was written.........and maybe somewhat dated; but that will vary by plan type and agency.

(think of all the masks ordered after SARS which were left to expire in warehouses)
 
The horrible nightmare is over.

The theatre behind a Broadway production featuring Bruce Springsteen says it's now able to welcome audience members who received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
Jujamcyn Theaters had previously said audience members wishing to attend “Springsteen on Broadway” needed to be immunized with vaccines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, leaving those who received AstraZeneca on the sidelines.
But the Jujamcyn website now says it will accept audience members vaccinated with shots approved by either the FDA or the World Health Organization, meaning AstraZeneca recipients can now attend.
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You may now all rush to go see a Bruce Springsteen musical. o_O
 
For the time being, starting tomorrow all City of Toronto clinics will be administering Moderna for those 18+ without exception. You will be told it is Moderna but you will not be able to request Pfizer.

This is being done because of a delay in Pfizer shipments coupled with a decrease in supply for the next couple of weeks. They want to ensure that those 12-17 can still be vaccinated with what little supply they have remaining.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1406380159675113473
 
zang said:
Obviously, some have had few problems using the provincial site, but here's my experience this morning, and is yet another reason why this system sucks.

I was able to find an appointment in Mississauga for next weekend. Not ideal for someone living in the Toronto Core who choses not to have a car, but better than the massive list of Barrie, Bradford, etc. that I've been seeing all week.

Despite having already searched the site dozens of times already, I still had to enter my OHIP information yet again, and postal code multiple times (seriously, Estonia's "ask once" policy kicks our ass in terms of government-data and its citizens; take note Doug Ford). There were tonnes of appointments available for Saturday of next week and the surrounding days.

Awesome. Good. An appointment almost a week earlier than the pharmacy one I got yesterday (that was subsequently cancelled by said pharmacy).

Now, to sign up my wife...

Enter all of her OHIP info, postal code multiple times... and? No available appointments at all. None. Zip. All gone.

Except they weren't. My wife was able to immediately log in on her computer and get the appointment time five minutes after mine. Plenty of appointments visible to her.

WTF?!

I could understand blocking a computer from acting as a scalping bot for successive hits in a short period of time, but in this case I was unable to make more than a single appointment within a two minute+ period. All of this even though the site clearly asks if you're booking on someone else's behalf.

It may not seem like much, but it means less tech-saavy/tech-available families are going to hit a roadblock signing up multiple users in a single household with a single device. We're told that multi-generational households are a big problem during covid times, and the provincial government has effectively set a massive speed bump in front of many of those people that'll keep them from getting appointments at the same time.

So it seems Ontariohealth.ca actually *does* set local cookies (which seem to be blocking an immediate second sign up). They just don't use those cookies to set your OHIP data, postal code, etc. so you don't need to re-enter your data every single time you visit the site. Deleting those cookies allowed me to see the available dates. Certainly not a barrier for anyone who's even moderately tech-savvy, but a barrier that might stop the average person. And it'll do little to stop fraudsters.

Maybe others have had a different experience, but I will repeat again that this rollout has been a clusterfk.
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Yep, it's a mess. I gave up. I will try Coscto this week, or I will try again next month.

My friend in the US, she had both her shots in by April . No appointments. Just pulled up to the drive thru, got the shot and done. None of this online booking silliness.
 
gabe said:
Yep, it's a mess. I gave up. I will try Coscto this week, or I will try again next month.

My friend in the US, she had both her shots in by April . No appointments. Just pulled up to the drive thru, got the shot and done. None of this online booking silliness.
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I went to Downsview Arena for the two shots. The first shot, I waited 5 minutes. The second shot, I waited 15 minutes. Booked online, got an e-mail notice for my second dose early by 2 months. For the second shot, I passed the l-o-n-g line for people who did not book. BTW. I'm 70 years old, and used the Humber River Hospital website to book myself, and my wife.
 
gabe said:
Yep, it's a mess. I gave up. I will try Coscto this week, or I will try again next month.

My friend in the US, she had both her shots in by April . No appointments. Just pulled up to the drive thru, got the shot and done. None of this online booking silliness.
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Well, the US had ample supply of vaccine and didn't need to target areas; thus allowing them to vaccinate anyone and everyone who wanted a shot. Unfortunately, we didn't have that option, so I understand the need to target certain areas (appointments and restrictions being a way to focus on areas).

But frankly, it should've been done differently. For large multi-residential buildings, it should've been done with roving day-long no-appointment necessary popups within the buildings themselves (I vote within my own building, why can't I get a vaccine here, too?). In larger more suburban areas, popups at community/sport centres/schools with a restriction based on street address (not FSA) with ample crossover between different neighbourhoods. Non-LTC Priority (mobile seniors, etc.) could be done by family doctor and visiting nurses. The doctors could then themselves call to make appointments with those they *know* and have determined need priority vaccination.

Instead, we handed the keys for mass vaccination over to an oligopoly of pharmacy companies, who make you get on a waiting list to just get an appointment, each with their own arbitrary booking systems. Most of the "hotspot"/"high risk" others get to deal with a terrible booking system that's no better than Ticketmaster. Add to that, our vague priority system allowed those with ADHD to get in line before those with asthma or lupus.

I really believe that our numbers aren't lower already simply because the frustration with the system is delaying those who really need a shot.
 
Richard White said:
With any luck will be down into the 100-200 range next week.
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Monday's Reports are always low for both tests done and cases found. I think we MAY see some trends by week's end as that should catch new cases caused by the opening up 10 days ago. It is worth remembering that if you have had one dose you are likely not to be too seriously infected so may not even know you are and thus not bother to get tested or seek medical help.
 
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