Will passports push young adults to get the COVID shot?

Vaccine passports are aimed primarily at young adults who have the highest rate of infection and lowest uptake of COVID shots, revealed Ontario's chief medical officer of health.

That age group that likes to go out and is naturally social, that takes advantage of bars, restaurants and nightclubs," Dr. Kieran Moore said Tuesday. I think once it clicks in the coming days that you must be vaccinated to get inside, that will change behaviours. That's my hope. We certainly want them better protected and immunized as we go into the fall and winter."

Vaccination is lowest in Hamilton among 25- to 29-year-olds, with just 62 per cent of them fully vaccinated with two doses compared to 75 per cent citywide. The city reports 29 per cent of them haven't had any COVID shots at all.

It compares to nearly 90 per cent with two shots among those age 80 to 84, with fewer than eight per cent unvaccinated.

The result is three active COVID cases Tuesday among those age 80 and older versus 99 infections among 20- to 39-year-olds in Hamilton.

The young adults make up one-third of the active cases.

We're most worried, of course, about that age group," said Hamilton's medical officer of health, Dr. Elizabeth Richardson. Their coverage is not as great."

Richardson played a key role in the passports, which will be required as of Wednesday in high-risk indoor settings such as restaurants, nightclubs, banquet centres and gyms.

She was one of four medical officers of health consulted by Moore on where the Delta variants spreads - the others were in Windsor-Essex, York and Toronto.

Hamilton was chosen because it has one of the highest COVID rates in Ontario - at the time it was second but it has since dropped to fifth.

We were talking about what were the sort of venues where we were seeing transmission happen," said Richardson. Those kinds of venues where people ... may be eating or drinking and therefore have their masks off. ... As well, places where people are more physically active so they are more likely to be exhaling harder."

Richardson said the province listened, as her suggestions - and those of the other medical officers of health - are the foundation of the passport.

Very much saw that our concerns, our advice were echoed in the recommendations and ultimately the regulations that were put forward," she said.

The passports could lead to lifting of capacity limits on these businesses in coming weeks, as long as the new mandatory rules are being followed.

If we see the vaccine passport is ... working to keep those environments safe, then we can open up more fully," said Moore. It may take us a couple of weeks of the implementation of this to see that its remaining safe, that we're not having outbreaks in those settings, and the numbers can be expanded."

Hamilton had 14 active outbreaks Tuesday including five at schools or child-care centres.

We did expect, of course, that there would be cases in the school as they reopened and, of course, outbreaks as well," said Richardson. We're working together with them as we go through this fall to continue to monitor and see what happens there."

The other outbreaks include three in workplaces, two connected to sports, one in supportive housing and three in seniors' homes.

Moore said the province is looking at what long-term-care homes have low immunization rates and what needs to be done to change that, including possibly stiffer vaccine mandates for staff.

This is a setting - we have to learn from Wave 1, 2 and 3 - is exceptionally vulnerable," said Moore. We need to protect patients in that environment - give them the respect and proper care they deserve. Part of that respect and proper care is that everyone around them should be immunized."

Ontario has seen a bump in COVID shots since the passports were announced Sep. 1.

I do hope it encourages others to come forward and be vaccinated," said Moore. We all want to move past this pandemic and having the highest immunization rate possible will help us get back to a new normal."

Hamilton hasn't seen the same uptick as the province, although the week of Sep. 13 to 19 did see doses go up for the fist time in weeks to an average of 1,363 a day.

It's a marked increase from 1,195 doses a day from Sep. 6 to 12. But it's still lower than 1,498 from Aug. 30 to Sep. 5, and 1,510 from Aug. 23 to Aug. 29.

Hamilton had the second-worst vaccination rate in the province Tuesday - tied with public health units Lambton, and Renfrew County and District. Chatham-Kent was the lowest

Those who are choosing to be unvaccinated are not only endangering themselves but are endangering others as well," said Mayor Fred Eisenberger. Please do reach out to your primary-care provider to seek information and answers to your questions and concerns."

Joanna Frketich is a Hamilton-based reporter covering health for The Spectator. Reach her via email: jfrketich@thespec.com