Hinshaw tries to calm blood-clot fears

Not getting COVID inoculation poses the greater risk, top doctor says

Alberta's top doctor is attempting to calm fears over possible blood clots from COVID-19 vaccines by saying the health risk is incredibly rare and there have been no reported cases in the province.

Chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said during her Thursday update that the risk of not getting the vaccine outweighs any potential health risk.

“Vaccines save lives and they will get us through this pandemic,” she said.

Concerns over vaccine safety have risen following reports of blood clots possibly being linked to the Astrazeneca vaccine.

Canada reported one case of blood clotting linked to a vaccine in Quebec but Hinshaw said there have been no cases reported in Alberta.

The province says Astrazeneca's first dose reduces infection by 60 to 70 per cent. More than 27,500 doses of Astrazeneca have been administered in Alberta, along with 58,000 doses of Covishield/astrazeneca.

The province reported 1,646 new infections on Thursday, bringing the total number of active cases to 16,223. There are 416 people in hospital with the virus; 86 of those are in intensive care. Five more deaths raised the death toll to 2,034.

Alberta added 1,020 new variant cases, which now make up 53.5 per cent of all active cases.

On Wednesday, the province announced Calgary-area schools would be moving temporarily to remote learning for grades 7 to 12 for two weeks as requested by school boards. Both Edmonton's public and Catholic schools confirmed to Postmedia that they have not made similar requests.

Hinshaw said on Thursday that all extracurricular youth sport, recreational or performance activities in Calgary must be outdoors or be paused during the two-week periods.

Meanwhile, Edmonton Public Schools reported on Thursday single cases at Killarney, Daly Grove, Calder, Dan Knott, M.E. Lazerte, Lago Lindo and two cases at Vernon Barford.

Edmonton Catholic Schools reported single cases at St. John XXIII, St. Alphonsus, Cardinal Collins, Holy Trinity, St. Maria Goretti and two cases at Monsignor William Irwin.

Hinshaw said there are active alerts or outbreaks in 478 schools, which represents 20 per cent of all schools in the province.