So. You have decided to wait to see how COVID-19 plays out this fall before receiving a vaccine? Here are some reasons why doing that may not be such a great idea: 1/ In the GWD region all of our mass vaccination clinics will close by the end of August. It will be more difficult to access a vaccine in the fall. As of today, people who need both their first dose or their second, can show up to one of these clinics without an appointment and get a vaccine. 2/This is an interesting graph: https://ourworldindata.org/covid-cases. What it shows is the huge surge in new cases in countries with similar vaccination rates to ours. The UK, the US, France Australia, to name a few, are all experiencing massive upticks in cases and although vaccines in these countries have dropped the risk of serious illness and death in the vaccinated, the unvaccinated are still becoming ill and requiring ICU admissions. Our vaccine rates are higher than some of these countries but until we are at 90 % vaccinated, there is a risk of an uptick in cases this summer and fall in those who have not received two vaccines. COVID kills. COVID causes serious illness. COVID causes serious disability. Get vaccinated before these vaccine clinics close. 3/ In Ontario, 10 people in the entire province who were fully vaccinated, ended up in hospital with serious illness. Think of that; over 8 million people in Ontario are fully vaccinated and only 10 have developed serious illness. That's just a little more than 1 in a million ( 0.0001% ) odds of becoming ill from COVID if you are vaccinated. Without vaccination, you have a greater than 30 % chance of developing serious illness if you become infected with the delta variant. Look at those odds; 0.0001 % vs 30 %, or put in a different light, there are 17 million people in Ontario and without vaccines, all of us would eventually get infected, 5.1 million of us would end up requiring hospitalization. Catastrophic. If you want your children ages 12-18, to be fully vaccinated before school starts, July 29 is the last day to get the first dose in order to be fully vaccinated with two doses before by the first week of school. At present, in GWD, 18 to 29 year olds have the lowest rate of vaccination. Please reach out to people you know in this age group and make sure they know the clinics are closing. The time for vaccination is now, not in the fall when we will most likely see an increase in cases of COVID-19. Here is the truth of the matter: COVID-19 is a vaccine preventable disease. We need to shift our pandemic mind-set. This virus will continue to circulate among the unvaccinated for years to come. If you are not fully vaccinated, you will eventually get COVID-19. It will become a disease of the unvaccinated just as measles, mumps, rubella, polio....are diseases of the unvaccinated. This is not fear mongering. This is science. It is the virus we should be afraid of and science we should be assured of. Vaccines work and we have got them!!! Now is the time. Get vaccinated. In WDG- here is the information you need to book a vaccine. But remember, as of today, you can just show up to a vaccine clinic. https://www.wdgpublichealth.ca/your-health/covid-19-information-public/covid-19-vaccine-information/ways-get-your-first-or-second Anne-Marie Pleases share. For non-Facebook users, you can find this post here: https://braceletofhope.blogspot.com/ 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-
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