Ottawa leading Ontario in vaccinating children ages 5-11
One-quarter of Ottawa children between five and 11 years old have received their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, the highest rate of any public health unit in Ontario.
More than 19,000 newly eligible children have received their shots since appointments began last Friday, Ottawa Public Health says. That’s about 25 per cent of all children in that age group.
The rate outpaces the provincewide pace so far. As of Friday, nearly 155,000 Ontario children aged five to 11 had received their first doses—about 14.4 per cent.
Ottawa’s uptake among children is the highest among all of Ontario’s 34 public health units. Timiskaming is second at 23.7 per cent, and Algoma District is next at 22.4 per cent.
Ottawa Public Health has said it has the capacity to vaccinate 77,000 eligible children between five and 11 years old within four weeks. The uptake so far puts the health unit on pace to meet that goal.
"We remain confident that there is enough system capacity in Ottawa to ensure that any five to 11 child who would like a vaccine can receive a vaccine," OPH said in a statement Friday.
The health unit is ramping up efforts to vaccinate children beyond appointments at community clinics through the provincial portal.
It’s holding pop-up clinics at 73 different schools this month. They started yesterday and run through Dec. 23.
You can find a list of clinics happening this week here.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.