Unprecedented

 My final post of 2020 and amen to that!

It's been an extraordinary year. Full of many things unprecedented.

UNPRECEDENTED: never done or known before.

You can say that again. COVID was an unknown this time last year and in 2021 we will do something the world has never accomplished before; the mass vaccination of billions of people using the intellectual property of the world and all the best we have in science and technology. I will say this again and again, "We were made for such a time as this". For that preparation, for these vaccine miracles and for the sharing of information on a global scale, I am in awe and so, so grateful.

I thank all of you for sharing this remarkable journey with me in over 270 posts, something unprecedented in my career. If you had told me in March of 2020 that I would be using Facebook to disseminate scientific and public health information to 21,000 followers I would have called you bonkers.

I wish you a Happy New Year.....but

"We are entering into an increasingly difficult time."

Patty Hadju- Minister of Health

OVER THE LAST SEVEN DAYS we have reached 565,000 cases of COVID-19 in Canada, 15,378 deaths, 6200 daily new cases, 3615 Canadians hospitalized, 720 in Intensive Care Units and over 136 Canadians have died each day.

There is no conspiracy here. COVID-19 is very real. The pandemic is not fake. It is not an attempt by governments to control populations. It is a virus that is only 80 nm in size. A tiny, tiny entity that latches on to your respiratory cells with vigour and hijacks your cells function to replicate itself causing, in some, severe and irreparable damage to major organs.

Its a killer. It has mutated to a more infectious variant. At this moment, on the dawn of a new year, we are all at higher risk of getting COVID-19 than we have ever been. We remain on a steep trajectory towards a very high number of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths. This battle will continue well into 2021.

Almost 3,000 cases in Ontario today indicates a very dangerous trend. No one is safe and the vulnerable are particularly at risk. Millions of Canadians have sacrificed their normal routines and many have put their lives at risk in this battle against COVID-19.

Please, please respect this national effort and do not gather on New Year's Eve. It's not worth it. Your life and the lives of the people you care about are so much more important than any New Year's Eve party. If you gather, you will be putting all those lives at risk. No sugar coating tonight.

But a lot to look forward to in 2021.

And here is the good news. No, it is amazing news. It is nothing short of a miracle. The world now has three vaccines that are over 90 % effective against COVID-19. All three, Pfizer Biontech, Moderna and Oxford-Astra Zeneca have very few side effects and so far, no serious complications. They represent unprecedented strides in science and vaccine technology, decades in the making, ready for a time like this.

Canada has selected a remarkable team of leaders that have already begun to roll out these vaccines on a national scale.

Major General Danny Fortin is in charge of Canada's mass vaccination program. Canada has received it's third shipment of the Pfizer vaccine.

In his comments today:

168,000 doses delivered this week

424,000 delivered in Canada during the month of December

124,000 doses expected to arrive the week of jan 4th

208,000 doses a week for the rest of January

1.2 million doses available by the end of January.

And tomorrow, the first shipment of the Moderna vaccine arrives in Canada.

Teams of people are being trained across the country to administer these vaccines in safe and well-prepared clinics and vaccine centres.

Guelph- Wellington- Dufferin will receive it's first doses on January 4th. With Dr. Nicola Mercer in charge of this local vaccine effort, we are in good hands.

AND.......

It is anticipated that all Canadians will have access to these vaccines by September.

"Despite the outstanding questions and challenges in delivering these vaccines, it is hard not to be excited about these findings and the existence of three safe and efficacious COVID-19 vaccines, with a further 55 already in clinical trials. With a range of manufacturers, a very large global investment in production, and cooperation in procurement and distribution, it seems likely that 2021 will see COVID-19 vaccines made available to all countries in the world—at least for their priority groups.

Perhaps by this time next year, we can celebrate the global control of SARS-CoV-2, in person." The Lancet. December 8, 2020

A happy, exciting, unprecedented New Year indeed.

Be well and safe tomorrow night my friends. Stay home. Be grateful. Celebrate the end of a difficult year and the beginning of a much, much brighter one, tucked away at home safe from COVID-19.

My heartfelt blessings to all of you.

Anne-Marie

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For non-Facebook users, you can find this post here:

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And if you'd like to help Bracelet of Hope work towards making sure that Lesotho has access to these vaccines, donate here:

https://www.braceletofhope.ca/ways-to-