GTHA Mayors and Chairs encourage all residents to get fully vaccinated to protect our progress fighting COVID-19

HAMILTON, ON – Today, Mayors and Chairs from the 11 largest municipal governments across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area held their regular weekly meeting to discuss the ongoing response to COVID-19 across the region.

The Mayors and Chairs welcomed the first weekend in Step 1 of the province's Roadmap to Reopen and the continuing progress on decreasing COVID-19 case counts across the GTHA and the increasing vaccination rates.

We continue to encourage all residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19 – first doses and second doses – to help bring this pandemic to an end. We note that in virtually all locations across the region additional capacity is available which could be utilized if planned supply was to be increased.

Vaccination rates are also crucial to moving forward with further reopening. The province requires 70 per cent of adults to have one dose of the vaccine and 20 per cent of adults to be fully vaccinated as part of the conditions for moving forward with Step 2.

The Mayors and Chairs confirm that the GTHA is on track to hit those milestones ahead of the province's July 2 target. This progress is encouraging and we hope that continued success on vaccination, thanks to residents stepping forward and continuing supply from the province, could allow the province, in consultation with public health officials, to consider opening personal service settings earlier than July 2.

While we are at a very positive place in our fight against COVID-19, the Mayors and Chairs note that all public health advice makes it clear that the Delta variant is a real threat to that progress. All of our residents can help protect that progress by making sure they get their first dose of vaccine and making sure they get their second dose as soon as they are eligible. 

“Hamilton is working with the Province to vaccinate as many people as possible and as quickly as possible. Hamilton continues to expand access to the COVID-19 vaccine through the launch of local vaccination programs such as the mobile pop-up vaccination clinics and the ArcelorMittal Dofasco community vaccine clinic. It is vital for residents to continue to follow Public Health measures and get fully vaccinated as soon as you are eligible. These combined efforts have led us to this point and will lead us through to better days.”

- Mayor Fred Eisenberger