Toronto to ramp up COVID-19 vaccine clinic operations in response to Omicron Bay’s surge in new COVID-19 cases, but the province says it knows almost all vaccine trials are moving into phase B trials
It’s a new normal for all of Toronto, with no official flu season in sight, and with new cases of COVID-19 still increasing all across the GTA.
At the same time, Toronto has a massive surplus of coronavirus vaccine trials. Many of them are moving into the final stages of the initial vaccine trials before moving on to more advanced stage B trials, which are typically much longer and more time-consuming.
Ontario’s public health laboratory says it knows almost all of the trials are entering phase B clinical trials, but it’s not clear whether Toronto’s vaccine trials are making it to the same level of readiness.
This week, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) moved all of its COVID-19 vaccine trials to the Omicron Bay vaccine factory, meaning they could be eligible for the federal Coronavirus Immunization Program.
The TDSB is a major supplier to the school district, which has seen major vaccine production capacity come from a small amount of vaccine trials in the last few years.
For instance, the TDSB conducted a trial called the COVID-19 Vaccine Trial at the end of 2018, when it moved some of its vaccine productions to the Omicron Bay facility.
The Omicron Bay factory is owned by the National Research Council of Canada. It also produces some of Canada’s most critical medical supplies, and makes vaccines for the public health and emergency services sectors.
In Toronto, the Omicron Bay facility is also a major vaccine production hub, holding the largest number of vaccine trials currently in operation in Toronto.
But as the virus continues to spread across the city, with more outbreaks at hospitals and daycares, and with new cases of COVID-19 being reported all across the city, it appears the vaccine trials are moving more swiftly and rapidly into production.
That’s not just because of the COVID-19 vaccine trials