The City of Toronto is starting to plan how it will vaccinate children aged aged five to 11 once COVID-19 shots are approved for them.

Toronto Public Health said Monday that it has formed a planning group that includes health partners, school boards, community representatives, and the provincial Health Ministry.

Mayor John Tory said the group is being assembled now so children can be vaccinated as soon as possible after Health Canada authorizes a COVID-19 shot them.

"This will help keep our kids safe and provide greater protection in our schools and communities across the city," Tory said in a statement.

The public health unit said the city is home to approximately 200,000 children in the five to 11 age cohort.

Children born before 2009 are currently not eligible to receive any of the COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in Canada.

Ontario health units are responsible for administering COVID-19 shots with guidance from the provincial government.

Vaccination clinics have been run at or near Ontario schools in the weeks since students have returned to classes in an effort to boost vaccination for eligible students, staff and families.

Provincial data as of Monday showed 80 per cent of youth aged 12 to 17 had at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and 70 per cent were fully vaccinated.

School staff in Ontario must be vaccinated against COVID-19 or be regularly tested for the virus.

No such rule is in place for students, but Toronto's top doctor has asked for that to change.

Dr. Eileen de Villa wrote to the city's board of health this month, asking it to request the province to require COVID-19 vaccination for eligible students based on their age. She was set to present that recommendation to the board at a Monday meeting.

In her Sept. 13 letter to the board of health, de Villa referenced the nine other diseases covered under the Immunization of School Pupils Act, which students enrolled in school must be vaccinated against.

COVID-19 is currently not one of those designated diseases, and de Villa wrote that the safety and effectiveness of approved vaccines has been proven in children 12 and older.

"Given the current epidemiology of COVID-19 and the need to support the safe re-opening of schools, it recommended that the province require COVID-19 vaccination for students who are eligible based on their age/year of birth," she wrote.

The province's top public health doctor has said the province is looking into adding COVID-19 vaccinations to the list of those required for students by law, which allows for some exemptions.