Toronto residents share personal COVID-19 stories

The City of Toronto launched a series of 30- to 60-second videos to thank residents for getting vaccinated and to support those who are unvaccinated by sharing personal stories, community-based insights and vaccine information and resources. The 10-part series will be released throughout December.

“Toronto Voices helps share the powerful experiences people have had since this pandemic began. The 10 short videos in this series reflect a cross-section of experiences that I hope will encourage more people to get vaccinated and inspire more people to help their community," said Mayor John Tory. "We wanted to capture some of those stories to not only recognize the importance of vaccination, but to demonstrate the importance of sharing what we’ve experienced together. I thank each person who agreed to share their story for this series and supporting our Team Toronto vaccine engagement efforts.”

First-person stories in the series are told by a student, a senior, a faith leader, residents who work as part-time community ambassadors involved in vaccine engagement in the city, volunteer Chairs of Toronto’s Accessibility Task Force on COVID-19 Vaccines and the Black Scientists’ Task Force on Vaccine Equity, and employees of community agencies that make up the City’s vaccine engagement teams.

Appearing in the three videos released are:

• Shaykh Imran Ally, Resident Imam at TARIC Islamic Centre, who talks proudly of his young son’s role in establishing a youth vaccine clinic at the Centre
• Mercedes Ferrer, one of the City’s 400 vaccine engagement ambassadors, who wanted to share her poignant story to “avoid other people going through what my family is going through”
• Dr. Akwatu Khenti, Chair of the Black Scientists’ Task Force on Vaccine Equity, who shares his personal response to vaccine mistrust

The videos can be viewed on the City’s website. A new video in the series will be posted every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to this web page from December 6 to 20 and promoted on the City’s social media channels.

Serville Poblette of Slow Drip Studio was awarded the producer role through ArtWorksTO, which provides opportunities for youth media artists (ages 18-29) who are Indigenous, Black and People of Colour and/or 2SLGBTQ+ to gain professional experience, skills and network in the media arts industry.

Partners in vaccine engagement, including Toronto Public Health, community agencies, ambassadors, faith leaders, task forces and groups serving equity-deserving populations, along with media and other partners are invited to share the videos to support widespread viewing.

Toronto is home to more than 2.9 million people whose diversity and experiences make this great city Canada’s leading economic engine and one of the world’s most diverse and livable cities.

As the fourth largest city in North America, Toronto is a global leader in technology, finance, film, music, culture and innovation, and consistently places at the top of international rankings due to investments championed by its government, residents and businesses.