Brampton mayor says focusing second-dose vaccines on Peel is “a no brainer”
Published June 4, 2021 at 8:58 pm
Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown is becoming more and more vocal in his call for second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine for Brampton and Peel.
“I really believe if we want to prevent the mistakes that were made during the first vaccine rollout, where they didn’t focus on hotspots and then the virus spread across the province, we have to focus on Peel. It’s a no brainer,” said Brown to insauga.com publisher Khaled Iwamura during his weekly Instagram Live chat. “We know where the spread happens.”
Brown said outbreaks of the virus have often been traced back to crowded factories, where it is then taken into the community and beyond the GTA.
“We don’t need a fourth lockdown. We don’t need to have a fourth wave. It’s preventable. We just need to vaccinate our essential workers,” he said. “The average age of an essential worker is 36. Right now for second doses, we are doing over 70. We’re not targeting those who desperately need that second dose.”
Dr. David Lawrence, Peel Medical Officer of Health, earlier this week said the first dose is 33 to 50 per cent effective against the Delta (India) variant spreading in Peel.
“Two doses will beat the variants,” said Brown. “Delta is here. It’s going to be the dominant way of transmission. The only way we can stop its spread is second doses. There’s a fire happening right now. I’m calling for fire trucks. And we’re waiting to find out if we’re going to get those fire trucks. And mark my words. If we don’t get the vaccines, if we don’t get the fire trucks, it will spread. Not just in Brampton and Peel, but out across the province.”
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Brown said he was concerned about the variant, calling it more transmissible and more severe.
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