COVID vaccination lagging in young people
With modelling showing a resurgence of COVID in the fall, Ontario's chief medical officer of health warned vaccination needs to speed up among young people before schools go back to in-person learning.
Time is of the essence," Dr. Kieran Moore said Tuesday about the need to get shots in arms during the summer lull in infections. Delta will want to surge and return in September if not earlier."
Getting out of Step 3 alone is going to be hard work," says Moore, pointing out Ontario has a ways to go" to meet vaccination targets that would see almost all COVID restrictions end as early as Aug. 6.
Vaccinating 80 per cent of those age 12 and over is harder than it looks despite 78 per cent having a first shot already - it's 74 per cent in Hamilton.
That's only creeping up 0.1 or 0.2 per cent a day," said Moore.
When it comes to second shots, the goal of 75 per cent is even further, with Ontario at nearly 55 per cent and Hamilton at about 52 per cent.
It's never been easier to get a COVID-19 vaccination," Moore said, specifically mentioning Hamilton taking walk-ins at many clinics.
In reality, Moore says modelling shows Ontario needs 90 per cent of those age 12 and over to get two doses to achieve herd immunity and protect the health-care system from Delta, which is now the dominant strain accounting for nearly 89 per cent of the province's COVID cases.
I absolutely expect a rise in COVID activity in September," said Moore. Hence the real call to arms that we need now to build the best immunity through immunization possible to protect our population. No one wants to see our health system impacted, no one wants to see more people in the intensive care unit. All of that hospital activity is preventable through immunization."
Youth vaccination lagging
More than one in three young people age 12 to 24 haven't had a first shot. It's a major concern with school starting in eight weeks. It takes four weeks to get both shots and another two weeks to gain full immunity.
We need to get this figure climbing more rapidly with the close approach of school," said Moore. We've been on calls with the local public health agencies and immunization partners ... who are seeing this lack of uptake in the younger age groups."
When it comes to second doses, more than three-quarters of those age 12 to 17 still need the shot and nearly two-thirds of those age 18 to 24.
I'm sure most of Ontario's youth are tired of staring at computer screens," said Moore. We all want to see schools return as close to the pre-pandemic normal as is safely possible. Solid health and safety protocols coupled with an increased vaccination uptake will help to ensure this happens."
With the lowest protection in Ontario, Moore says young people are coming down with a higher rate of disease than other age groups."
In Hamilton, 40 per cent of active cases are among those age 10 to 29.
Threat of Delta
COVID numbers are all trending in the right direction," said Moore. But as the province goes into Step 3 on Friday, Delta is the dark cloud on the horizon" as it was described at a Hamilton media briefing Monday.
We remain very concerned about the Delta variant," Ontario's associate chief medical officer of health, Dr. Barbara Yaffe, said Tuesday. It is particularly important to get two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine for everyone as soon as possible, but especially if you live in a Delta hot spot."
Hamilton is one of the province's 10 Delta hot spots and the city's pockets of unvaccinated are particularly vulnerable.
Delta strain will seek out unvaccinated individuals so becoming immunized as soon as possible will ensure that you are not on that path of least resistance for the virus," said Moore. All you have to do is look around the globe and see the increased activity in countries where Delta has gone unchecked."
Even after Ontario meets the vaccine targets to drop most public health measures, the province will continue to work toward that optimal 90 per cent coverage.
Vaccinating the last 10 to 12 per cent of Ontarians will be difficult, but it is required if we're going to be opening safely against Delta," said Moore.
Mixing vaccines
Ontario will continue mixing vaccines to get the population protected as quickly as possible despite comments from the World Health Organization's chief scientist that it's a dangerous trend."
Their statement was taken out of context and does not change our principles and our approach," said Moore.
Reports of Ontarians walking away from clinics when they can't get the same mRNA vaccine they had the first time was called extremely unfortunate" by Yaffe.
We consider them to be the same vaccine," Yaffe said about Moderna and Pfizer. We know it's safe, we know it's effective, please don't hesitate."
She stressed mixing vaccines has been given the green light by Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization based on studies from the U.K., Spain and Germany.
Joanna Frketich is a Hamilton-based reporter covering health for The Spectator. Reach her via email: jfrketich@thespec.com