As two new Health Canada-approved vaccines begin arriving in pharmacies, public health officials are asking people who need protection most to protect against the currently circulating variants that cause COVID-19. We are encouraging people to get the latest vaccinations.
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has announced that the latest vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech are expected to arrive in provinces and territories by next week. Pharmacies, public health agencies, or local equivalents then distribute the products.
The latest mRNA vaccines target an Omicron subvariant known as KP.2. Based on Canadian virus sequence data, the KP subvariant continues to predominate.
“Vaccines can reduce the risk of infection,” Dr. Don Shepherd, deputy director of the agency’s infectious disease and vaccination program division, told CBC News in an interview. “They are particularly effective at reducing disease severity.”
Initial hopes that vaccination against the new coronavirus would completely stop infections did not materialize.
Sheppard said this dose is important for people who are at high risk of severe outcomes, including:
Over 65 years old. Immunity is weakened. First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people, especially those living on reserve, have difficulty accessing health care.
“I think shifting the focus to the people we really want to protect from serious consequences is a recognition that we’re in a different place now.”
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Some medical experts say a shortage of once-abundant rapid COVID-19 tests is leading to underreporting of cases as fall weather begins and respiratory infections increase. I am concerned that it is connected.
Previous vaccines and infections provide some protection.
But other infectious disease doctors say that while uptake of the latest version of the vaccine was low across Canada in the spring, given the virus’s continued transmissibility and waning immunity to infection, all It says adults should consider getting the latest vaccines.
“I think some of it has to do with messaging, but I also think it has to do with vaccine fatigue and still some misinformation about vaccines and the COVID-19 vaccine,” University of Toronto Health Network Infection said Dr. Susie Hota, Medical Director of Prevention and Control.
Shepherd said the latest vaccines are available to anyone who wants them. This includes previously vaccinated persons aged 6 months or older and unvaccinated persons.
Nationally, indicators of new coronavirus infections have remained stable at a high level compared to spring.
Viruses “don’t go away”
Sheppard said the ad campaign will remind people to stay home when they’re sick, use a mask if they can’t avoid being around others when they’re sick, and cover their bodies when coughing and sneezing. He said that this would strengthen messages such as:
Dr. Brian Conway, medical director of the Vancouver Infectious Disease Center, said the new coronavirus did not disappear over the summer, and the virus does not follow a seasonal pattern like the flu that occurs each fall.
Dr. Susie Hota said the latest coronavirus vaccines will help prevent infections among vulnerable populations and maintain the capacity of Canada’s strained health-care system. (Turgut Yetel/CBC)
“It’s endemic. It’s not going away,” Conway said. “Our future will involve annual influenza and COVID-19 vaccinations.”
Conway said people can receive COVID-19 and flu vaccines, one in each arm, in one visit.
Tailor your message
Conway and Hota also noted that the situation with COVID-19 remains unpredictable.
“There’s a bigger picture here,” Hota said. “This is also about preventing the transmission of infection to vulnerable people you may have come into contact with who may not even be aware that they are at higher risk, and also about the It’s also about trying to maintain the capacity of a health care system that has been under a lot of stress for the last four years.
Simon Bacon, a professor of behavioral medicine at Concordia University in Montreal, has researched COVID-19 awareness and vaccine hesitancy and believes messages can be tailored to different groups and communities. He said it is important now.
“Right now, if you get coronavirus, you might need to take time off from work because a) you’re more contagious, and b) you’re not going to be able to function as well,” Bacon said.
Mr Bacon recommended that federal, state and territory governments provide relevant information to individuals and convey nuanced messages to empower them.
