Item - 2021.HL31.2

The Board of Health recommends that:

1.  City Council request the Government of Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada to apply a global health lens to the global and Canadian vaccine response, including measures and resources to scale up vaccine production and access for regions with low vaccination coverage and to assist provinces and municipalities to develop a global health lens for the local pandemic response.

2.  City Council reiterate the request of the Ontario Ministry of Health to take action to mandate and facilitate the collection of socio-demographic data by all vaccination providers, to mandate that the Ontario Health Data Platform support the use of this equity data and to make this data routinely available to local Public Health Units for assessment and planning.

3.  City Council request the City Manager, in consultation with the Medical Officer of Health, to continue to support race-based data collection, regular reporting and community collaboration by the City of Toronto and Toronto Public Health to inform immediate and culturally-competent responses to the mental health burden of COVID-19 and the uptake of COVID-19 vaccination.

4.  City Council request the City Manager, in consultation with the Medical Officer of Health, to work with their counterparts in other levels of governments and mental health care providers to ensure that the COVID-19 mental health response is maintained, scaled up and appropriately adapted for the post-pandemic recovery phase, including reducing stigma and other barriers to access through anti-Black racism capacity building and accountability.

The Board of Health:

1.  Reiterated the request of the Ontario Ministry of Health to take action to mandate and facilitate the collection of socio-demographic data by all vaccination providers, to mandate that the Ontario Health Data Platform support the use of this equity data and to make this data routinely available to local Public Health Units for assessment and planning. 

Dr. Akwatu Khenti, Special Advisor, TO Supports: COVID-19 Equity Action Plan and Chair, Black Scientists' Task Force on Vaccine Equity gave a presentation on Update on the Black Scientists' Task Force on Vaccine Equity - Sharing Evolving Challenges with the Board of Health: COVID-19 Pandemic.

Dr. Akwatu Khenti, Special Advisor, TO Supports: COVID-19 Equity Action Plan and Chair, Black Scientists' Task Force on Vaccine Equity and the Director, Community Resources, Social Development, Finance and Administration will give a presentation on Black Scientists' Task Force on Vaccine Equity Update.