Toronto’s Northwest communities hardest hit by COVID-19 infection rates must be prioritized in vaccine rollout plan.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Toronto’s Northwest communities hardest hit by COVID-19 infection rates must be prioritized in vaccine rollout plan.
High infection rates within Toronto’s North-West quadrant leave community members disproportionately vulnerable to infection and/or fatality.

March 2, 2021 - TORONTO - The Jane/Finch Centre, the largest multi service organization serving Toronto’s Black Creek neighbourhood, is calling on Ontario’s government to follow through with prioritizing neighbourhoods hardest hit by COVID-19 in the upcoming vaccine rollout plan. 

The province’s Science Advisory Table has recommended including postal code along with age as central factors, to ensure more equitable distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. 

“Recognizing the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities like ours and prioritizing access to vaccines is one of the most important measures the province can take right now,” said Michelle Dagnino, Executive Director of the Jane/ Finch Centre. 

“We have been calling for plans that address the area specific challenges of neighbourhoods like Jane/ Finch, so this is welcome news.” 

Neighbourhood specific data released in February 2021 reinforces the continuation of alarming COVID-19 positivity rates in a number of areas in Toronto’s north-west quadrant, including York University Heights (6.9%), Black Creek (6.8%) and Kingsview Village (8%). 

Experts have attributed high concentration of essential workers commuting to work on crowded public transit, large households and lack of local infrastructure to provide easily accessible testing and other essential services, as factors that make members of these communities unfairly vulnerable to contracting and spreading the illness. 

“Prioritizing vaccine rollout in postal codes that have been hit with high infection rates is not only sensible from an equity perspective, but it will be important for curbing the spread and impact across the City and region,” Dagnino added. “This is just good policy”

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MEDIA CONTACTS:
Kirsten Desabrais Pablo Vivanco
Communications Coordinator Director of Programs
(647) 502 - 1993 (416 ) 732 - 5484