Toronto residents 80 and older can now start booking COVID-19 vaccine appointments. Here’s how

The city has retained early access to the province’s online booking portal, which is not set to launch until Monday.

About 133,000 spots are available through Toronto’s COVID-19 site. The appointments are for March 17 through April 11 at one of three mass vaccination clinics that will be operational next week.

If you want to make an appointment, or assist someone who will be 80 or older in 2021 to do so, follow these steps:

• Visit www.toronto.ca/covid-19 and click on the dark blue “register” button.
• This brings you to the province’s online booking system where you will have to input the registrant’s provincial health card, date of birth, postal code and email and/or mobile phone number.
• You can then schedule a first vaccination appointment, and an appointment to receive a second dose.

Appointments were initially going to be limited to three mass immunization clinics, but three additional city-run clinics are also being brought online, with each of the six clinics operating seven days per week, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Pharmacy vaccination pilot expanding

Once the province’s online portal becomes available next week, Ontarians will also be able to book appointments by phone through a central call centre.

Meanwhile, a pilot project offering COVID-19 vaccines in pharmacies is expanding more broadly today.

Some pharmacies in Toronto, Windsor and Kingston health units have already started offering AstraZeneca vaccines to residents between the ages of 60 to 64.

Justin Bates of the Ontario Pharmacists’ Association says additional shots were to arrive yesterday. That means vaccinations are set to begin at more sites today.

He says interest in the pilot has been overwhelming.

Individual pharmacies are using their own booking systems and Bates says people should check online before calling due to high call volumes.