Why Canadians should be vigilant in the fourth wave, even if they are fully vaccinated

Report Immune weakness From the COVID-19 vaccine Booster shot Possibility with Breakthrough infectious disease Some of the fully vaccinated people may lead many of us to second-guess what can and cannot be safely done in the fourth wave.

And that More contagious, Potentially More deadly The Delta variant prolongs the pandemic, makes it more difficult to navigate everyday life, and returns the clock of our collective plan to return to a relatively normal life.

“Everyone has this abominable virus,” said Dr. David Naylor, who led a federal investigation into Canada’s national response to the 2003 SARS outbreak and is now co-chair of the federal COVID-19 Immunity Task Force. We need to get rid of it. ” “But it hasn’t been done with us yet.”

After most of us were vaccinated and played our part to protect ourselves and the community from COVID-19, it was easy to think that this was all over, but unfortunately We still have a way to go.

“We need to rethink this,” said Lindsey Marr, a virus infection expert at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. .. ”

Unvaccinated Driving Canada 4th Wave

The harsh truth is that Canada continues to see a nasty rise in COVID-19 levels in many of the countries, despite our collective efforts to stop another wave of pandemics through widespread vaccination. That is.

Over the past week, new COVID-19 cases have increased to an average of 2,848 per day. This is a 29% increase over the last 7 days.

Daily hospitalizations also increased by 39% weekly, averaging 917 across the country. Meanwhile, ICU hospitalizations have also increased by an average of 29% per day to 340 over the past week.

Even though it has 66% of Canada’s population is fully vaccinated — It’s been flat in the last few weeks, but it’s still very high.

So why is that not enough? The answer lies in those who haven’t been shot yet.

Since the vaccine became available in December, only 0.8% of cases with COVID-19, 1% of hospitalizations and 1.4% of deaths have been due to fully vaccinated Canadians. Latest available data From the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Jason Kindrachuk, an assistant professor of viral pathogenesis at the University of Manitoba and chairman of Canada’s Emerging Research Committee, said: virus. “That’s why the vaccine is working.”

However, there are still millions of Canadians who have not yet been vaccinated, either by choice or due to lack of access or eligibility. It puts us all at risk.

Unvaccinated Canadians carry the risk of vaccination

The bottom line is that the vaccine isn’t complete (and wasn’t said to be fully vaccinated), and even if it’s fully vaccinated, there’s a risk of COVID-19, and Canadians are weeks to months ahead. It is confusing how to proceed.

Dr. Allison McGear, a medical microbiology and infectious disease specialist at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, who worked at the forefront of the SARS outbreak in 2003, said unvaccinated Canada was vaccinated in the fourth wave. It poses two different threats to a person.

“First, they pose a direct risk of infection, and vaccines are very effective in protecting you from serious illness and death, but not 100 percent. There is no 100 percent in life,” she said. Said.

“The second thing that unvaccinated people do is to increase the spread of the coronavirus in the population. Therefore, when the restrictions are lifted, unvaccinated people will contribute significantly to the growth of the infection in the community. increase.”

Frankly, the longer the remaining Canadians postpone firing, and until we can vaccinate children under the age of 12, the pandemic gets worse.

And while we’ve come a long way since the pandemic began, we’re still not close to where we need to control the delta variant.

Naylor said, despite Canada’s vaccination 83 percent Eligible population with one or more doses 75 percent Even two aren’t enough to stop the fourth wave.

“This is very helpful and should reduce the sacrifice of the 4th wave compared to the previous wave,” he said. “But it doesn’t make sense to leave a lot of immunological room for the virus to spread and cause more harm.”

The Ontario Public Health Service, a state government agency, recently announced report It means that the delta variant has kicked off the possibility of further herd immunity. This means that 90% of the population must be fully vaccinated to get there.

“Vaccines are not a panacea, but if everyone is vaccinated, this is done,” said Raywat Deonandan, a global health epidemiologist and associate professor at the University of Ottawa. “Despite the fact that these vaccines are not perfect.”

Game delta change rules

The problem we face at this stage of the pandemic is that Delta has changed the rules of the game. Be wary, which means raising the threshold of immunity we need to hit, increasing the risk of daily life, and even the fully vaccinated Canadians need to maintain them.

But instead of gathering in a cohesive way, the country is once again divided on vaccine passports, mask obligations, and the resurgence of public health restrictions, leaving a patchwork system nationwide that leaves room for the virus to spread.

Ontario When Alberta Ontario may soon have rejected previous vaccine passport ideas Course change, in the meantime British Columbia I participated Quebec When Manitoba We announced a fully vaccinated passport in response to the 4th wave.

Saskatchewan This week, we announced that we will not implement vaccine passports, and will not reintroduce indoor mask obligations or rally capacity limits despite rising COVID-19 levels.

Despite the fact that both BC and Quebec saw it Large-scale uptick of vaccination After introducing the vaccine passport and Manitoba Brought back the essential mask Indoors.

“I’m really disappointed that some states aren’t promoting vaccine certification programs. It’s not about civil liberties. It’s like smoking in a crowded restaurant,” Nayler said. increase.

“Vaccine certificates spur to protect ourselves and others, even for those who are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated. Avoid this wise move. We can expect all the prime ministers to finally awaken to the harm they are doing. ”

See | BC Announces Vaccine Passport in COVID-19 Spike

BC announces vaccine passport in COVID-19 spike

Following the initiative of Quebec, BC will implement a vaccine passport system to access non-essential services. 2:43

In reality, until that happens, Canadians solve the problem with their own hands, using proven tools at hand to slow down the worst of the Delta-led Fourth Wave. You may need to.

“We have to admit that it’s balanced,” Kindrachuk said. “Vaccines are certainly an important way for us to get out of the pandemic, but it’s not the only way.”

These tools include wearing high quality masks as needed, filtering indoor air, avoiding poorly ventilated and crowded indoor spaces, especially if unvaccinated.

“Deltas are clearly much more contagious, and vaccines help prevent it, but not 100%. Therefore, in the absence of less contagious viruses and vaccines, they return to their state almost a year ago. “Mr. Ma said.

“At the same time, it’s not as upset as it was in the beginning because we know what we need to do.”