Officials urge shots as virus resurgence expected
It's vital that Ontarians keep filling in the chinks in the armour that is COVID-19 vaccine coverage by extending their arms for any first or second dose they have yet to receive as quickly as they can, health officials urged Tuesday.
They laid out what's at stake: a return to school that's as safe and normal as possible, protection against a now-dominant, more transmissible variant that “will seek out unvaccinated individuals,” and the severity of an expected COVID -19 flare-up in the fall as colder weather returns and people move back indoors.
“Delta will want to surge and return in September, if not earlier. All you have to do is look around the globe and see the increased activity in countries where Delta has gone unchecked. It's very important that we continue to prepare and respond now,” Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore said.
“The Delta strain will seek out unvaccinated individuals, and so becoming immunized as soon as possible will ensure that you are not on that path of least resistance for the virus.”
Moore encouraged those with any hesitation to talk to people in their lives who've already been vaccinated or to their health-care provider or pharmacist.
It's especially important that those between ages 18 and 39 get vaccinated ASAP, Moore said, as this is the age group where the highest instances of COVID-19 infection are being observed because of low immunization levels.
Of nearly 46,000 Ontarians aged 19 to 29 who tested positive for
COVID-19 during the past three months, more than 96 per cent were unvaccinated. For those aged 12 to 17, it was 99.3 per cent.
“I'm sure most of Ontario's youth are tired of staring at computer screens when they would rather be catching up with friends in person,” Moore said, pointing to increased vaccine uptake as a way to help secure a close-to-normal return to school.
He also held up the move from the third phase — which Ontario enters Friday — into total reopening as another vaccination motivator.
The immunization threshold for that move is 80 per cent of the eligible population aged 12 and over with at least one dose and 75 per cent with two, and with no public health unit at less than 70 per cent fully vaccinated. Presently, 78 per cent of the 12-and-older population have at least one dose and just over 54 per cent have two.
“It's a challenge really to all Ontarians. If we want to move safely and effectively through step three to a complete reopening of our economy, we've got our work cut out for us,” Moore said.
As focused as Moore was Tuesday on the importance of building up the most complete vaccine coverage possible, he said he didn't think a vaccination passport system was necessary for Ontario at this point, given the rate at which people were coming forward to get immunized.
While the provincial vaccination rate has slowed “a little,” Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Barbara Yaffe said that nearly 200,000 people were still being vaccinated each day.
When it comes to the overall epidemic picture in the province, “we are continuing to see positive trends,” Yaffe said. “But we remain very concerned about the Delta variant.”