Horwath urges Ford not to abandon hotspot strategy for vaccines

QUEEN’S PARK — The Ford government is abandoning the hotspot strategy for vaccines after just two weeks — a move Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says ignores expert advice, and risks allowing COVID fires to spread again.

Every day, Toronto and Peel alone have as many new COVID cases as the entire rest of the province, combined. Yet at the end of this week, Ford will return vaccine allocations to a strictly per-capita basis.

“We’re in this long, deep and frustrating lockdown because Doug Ford allowed hotspot fires to rage and spread out of control,” said Horwath. “Now that we have a steady supply of vaccines, we have a chance to put out the hotspot fires. Instead, the Ford government is going to leave them smouldering. It could set the entire province back again.”

Ontario’s Science Table recommended that 50 per cent of vaccines go to 74 hotspot areas for no less than 25 days. Instead, Doug Ford spread the doses thin, sending 50 per cent of doses to 114 post code areas for just two weeks before abandoning the hotspots strategy.