NO FUEL FOR COVID-19

 

And here we are......

On the other side of the fourth wave. For now. Well done Ontario! Only 373 new cases in the province today and our seven day rolling average just dropped below 400 to 389. It was 441 a week ago. Check out my favourite graph: https://covid-19canada.com/graphs#ON Scroll down to New Cases Analysis by Date and look at that 7-day rolling average curve. Despite schools re-opening to in-class learning and despite a major holiday and long weekend, that curve is coming down. Meanwhile, the main reason behind our success is obvious; 87 % of Ontarions have received at least one dose of vaccine and 83 % are fully vaccinated. The frail and elderly in longterm care homes and congregate settings along with the immunocompromised have received a third dose. Next week, we expect to hear about the next step in the province's plan to offer a third dose to people over the age of 70 and it is anticipated that Health Canada will approve the Pfizer vaccine for use in children under 12 in the coming weeks. The federal government has already purchased almost 3 million doses of this vaccine which is the same as the adult vaccine except that it is a third of the dose. The US drug regulating authority, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are reviewing the data on kids vaccines and they appear to be highly effective at preventing symptomatic infections in kids under 12. They FDA is expected to make their decision concerning the use of the Pfizer vaccine in kids next week. The scientists presently reviewing the data concluded that the vaccine's benefit for preventing hospitalizations and death from COVID-19 far outweigh any serious potential side effects. As with adults, the kids vaccine is 91 % effective at preventing symptomatic infections. There were no severe illnesses reported among any of the children in the study, but the vaccinated ones had much milder symptoms than their unvaccinated counterparts. The FDA review found no new or unexpected side effects, which mostly consisted of sore arms, fever and achiness. It should be noted that the study of the Pfizer vaccine in children under 12 was not large enough to detect extremely rare side effects, including myocarditis. Rare side effects are discovered after millions of people have been vaccinated. It is likely that the 28 million children under 12 in the USA will begin receiving the Pfizer vaccine as early as the end of November. The COVID-19 situation in the USA remains very different than the situation in Canada. Nearly 6.2 million children in the USA have been infected with COVID-19, 1.1 million in the last six weeks and more than 680 people under the age of 18 have died from COVID-19 infection in the USA. There is a sense of urgency to vaccinate children in the states because the virus remains out of control in many states. Here is what I predict. Given that: 1/ We have such good control of the virus at present in most provinces. 2/ Our vaccination rates are so high with some communities like Guelph now reaching over 90 % fully vaccinated. 3/ We seem to be conquering the fourth wave as a result of mass vaccinations. 4/ Children under 12 who are at less risk of developing serious COVID-19 infections and at extremely rare risk of dying of COVID-19. The urgency around vaccinating children under 12 is not as acute in Canada. They need to be vaccinated, there is no doubt of that. But Health Canada will do their due diligence before approving this vaccine. They will not rush. Our children will likely begin being vaccinated in the new year at which time, millions of American children will have been vaccinated. We will be able to see if there are rare risks associated with the Pfizer vaccine in children under 12. Our willingness to be vaccinated along with our ability to adhere to public health guidelines that include limited gathering indoors and wearing masks in public have left us in excellent shape. We will continue to protect our children under 12 as a result of these efforts until we know and understand the safety of these vaccines in this age group. I am concerned about opening up to soon. I agree with the present provincial plan to start lessening limit restrictions in public places next week. I have huge confidence in our Chief Medical Office of Health, Dr. Kieran Moore. He seems to have a strong and steady hand that will not likely be moved by politics. If we are not ready to fully open by March, we will not fully open in March regardless of any political agenda or a looming provincial election in June. We may need to keep masks on until the summer and indoor gatherings may need to stay under 25 well into next summer. We have the strength and resilience to do this. We must do this if it is proven to be the correct thing to do as we move through the winter months. Do not be anxious to take those masks off. We'll get there. NO FUEL FOR COVID-19. Let this bugger burn out. Starve it of any human hosts. That's the plan and we are doing it. Anne-Marie Please share We are assisting in the roll out of the J and J vaccine in Lesotho. If you would like to be apart of this vitally important work towards making sure that vaccines are distributed in resource poor countries like Lesotho, you can donate here: https://www.braceletofhope.ca/ways-to-give/ For non-Facebook users, you can find this post here: https://braceletofhope.blogspot.com/