Torontonians’ enthusiasm for COVID-19 vaccines has put the city in a “unique and frankly enviable” position among global cities trying to reopen while the Delta virus variant is circulating.

That was the optimistic message Wednesday from Toronto public health chief Dr. Eileen de Villa, who noted almost 80 per cent of adults in the city have at least one dose of vaccine and 66 per cent of adults are fully vaccinated.

The city, and Ontario, have surged ahead of the national rate that puts Canada among the most vaccinated nations on earth.

“COVID-19 is surging again in many other places in the world and spreading unchecked in many more,” de Villa told reporters at a weekly pandemic briefing.

“But Toronto is in a unique and frankly enviable position compared to many other places. We’re able to talk more about what we can do than what we can’t.”

But de Villa said Toronto needs to keep boosting the vaccination rate. She endorsed her Ontario counterpart Dr. Kieran Moore’s ambitious target of getting 90 per cent of residents fully vaccinated to limit spread of highly infectious Delta.