#Toronto #vaccine clinic workers subjected to 'racist, sexist' remarks

 

Staff working at city vaccination clinics are being subjected to “racist and sexist” harassment.

Mayor John Tory said the intolerable behaviour is being directed at employees he called “heroes,” who “are working to get people vaccinated.”

Toronto Fire Chief Matthew Pegg said a lot of the behaviour was the result of people wanting to take photos inside clinics where photography, unless supervised, is not allowed due to concerns about personal health information.

Otherwise, Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health, continued to warn about the “more transmissible, more infectious” Delta variant.

“Toronto is on a solid path, though a narrow one, while we watch what the Delta variant does here,” de Villa said at the briefing. “The Delta variant is a force to be reckoned with.”

De Villa said so far there have been 122 cases of the Delta variant identified in Toronto.

“That may not sound like a lot but the confirmation process is complex and takes time and moreover we’ve seen what happens when a variant suddenly explodes,” she said.

De Villa said that Public Health England reported cases of the Delta variant jumped 90% in the last week and the next phase of their reopening set for June 21 may be delayed.

However, a study by PHE found the Phizer vaccine was 88% effective against symptomatic diseases from the Delta variant, two weeks after the second dose, and that two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were 66% effective.

The study also shows the just one dose of either vaccine was 33% effective.

One bit of good news is that ten city outdoor pools in Toronto are opening up earlier than usual on Saturday with 25% capacity.

They are Sunnyside Gus Ryder, Riverdale, Pine Point, West Mall, Parkway Forest, McGregor, Grand Ravine, Heron Park, Monarch Park and Alex Duff.

Admission is completely free until Labour Day weekend with a new online system to make reservations for 45-minute-long swim times scheduled to come online Thursday.

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