QUEEN’S PARK – Ontario Liberals are calling on Doug Ford and Sylvia Jones to present a real plan to keep our children safe and alleviate the strain on our healthcare system.
This must include universal masking in schools and on public transportation, the introduction of a robust public health campaign to encourage Ontarians to stay up to date with their vaccinations, and regular updates on the state of our healthcare system.
“In the first year of this pandemic, the Ontario government provided the public with daily updates on how we could stay safe and do our part to flatten the curve,” said John Fraser, MPP for Ottawa South and Interim Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party. “But now, when our emergency rooms are closing and our children are unable to get the care they need, Doug Ford and Sylvia Jones are silent.”
According to Public Health Ontario, only 1.5M individuals aged 12 years or older have received a dose of the Bivalent COVID-19 vaccine. Only 4.3% of children 5 to 11 years of age have received a first booster dose, and only 24.9% of children under 12 years of age have completed their primary series of COVID-19 vaccination.
“Doug Ford and Sylvia Jones need to take proactive steps to prevent this crisis from getting worse,” said Dr. Adil Shamji, MPP for Don Valley East and Ontario Liberal Health critic. “It’s not enough to focus exclusively on emergency departments and ICUs – they need to take prompt action to reduce the demand on our healthcare system through universal masking in schools and on public transportation, and promoting vaccination.”
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