It's not easy to get a vaccine in Scarborough. 

Residents of Toronto are finally starting to get vaccinated at a quicker pace this month now that fifty-three areas of the city have been identified as hot spot regions where those 18 and older can get a shot at new mobile and pop-up clinics.

Unfortunately, the haste of the suddenly expedited rollout has meant that people are scrambling to gain access to very few doses and public health units are trying their best — and failing — to keep up with demand with such tight resources and on such short notice. 

The most recent example of this is in Scarborough, which holds two of the 13 postal codes that were deemed the greatest priority areas in need of an increased number of doses, and which has been hosting pop-up clinics this week.

The first-come, first-served clinics have been seeing absolutely ridiclous lineups in which citizens are waiting hours for a chance to get a shot, some of them even camping out overnight prior to opening.

Thousands have turned up for them so far only to be turned away.

With small and delayed innoculation shipments provincewide, many are finding that the areas that have the highest proportion of essential workers and infections — and are thus the most in need — are not receiving nearly enough doses for the number of people seeking one.

Some pharmacies in select at-risk neighbourhoods have even started offering AstraZeneca shots 24/7, but these spots are reserved for those 40 and over and are booked in advance, unlike at the pop-up clinics, which are running out of vaccine within hours of opening while countless people wait in line.