The 7 day rolling average in Ontario is 305, the lowest yet. It was over 4700 in mid- April.
The number of new cases was 256 today; the fifth time we have been under 300 in the last week.
In GWD: 76 % have received one dose of vaccine and 27 % have received two. That is outstanding. Dr. Nicola Mercer has predicted that we could all have access to two doses by August.
66 % of the population of Ontario has received one dose and 25 % have received two.
As the number of vaccines go up, the number of new cases go down. Vaccines work!
I spent the afternoon yesterday giving second doses of the Moderna vaccine. For those of you who are booked for a second appointment at the mass vaccination clinics in our area, please feel at ease with this vaccine. Several of my patients were somewhat hesitant about receiving a Moderna vaccine after an AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine. The National Advisory Committee on Immunizations ( NACI ) has recommended that people who have received the AZ vaccine as their first dose and have the option of getting a mRNA vaccine as their second dose, should get the mRNA vaccine. Why? Because the AZ vaccine followed by a mRNA vaccine is a more effective combination against the Delta variant. If you can receive a more effective combination, you should. This recommendation was given a week ago Thursday. Many people had already received two doses of the AZ vaccine. More on that in a minute.
We have two available mRNA vaccines in Canada: Pfizer and Moderna. They are virtually indistinguishable. These vaccines are based on the same brilliant technology. Synthesized mRNA is injected into your upper arm muscle ( deltoid) where it enters into your cells at this site. Once it enters, it triggers your cells machinery to produce spike proteins similar to the spike proteins found on the COVID-19 virus. The spike proteins stick to the surface of these cells. Your immune system sees these proteins as foreign. It creates antibodies to the spike proteins which then eliminates the cells at the site of the injection. No worries here. You have billions of cells in your body. The immune system is constantly eliminating cells that are old, unusual, or defective. They are constantly replaced by new cells. It's a wonderful process.
But these 'spike protein' antibodies remain in your system. If you are infected by the COVID-19 virus, the spike proteins on the virus stimulate the immune system to direct these antibodies to kill the virus.
Remember this very novice youtube video I threw together last December. Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50Ft7VyG6Qc. Silly in many ways but it does explain how the mRNA vaccines work!
Moderna, Pfizer....same technology, interchangeable, one is not better than the other. They are both excellent vaccines. Researchers continue to study the effect of these vaccines on millions of people. They are over 90- 95% effective against COVID-19 and it's variants after the second dose. This means that both these vaccines reduce your risk of becoming infected by COVID-19 after an exposure to the virus by 90-95%. Truly remarkable. If you sit down for your second dose and moderna is offered to you, take it. The two vaccines can be mixed safely and they create a brilliant immune response with an extremely low rate of adverse events.
If you have received two doses of the AZ vaccine, an also brilliant combination, you are 80 % protected against acquiring COVID after the second dose and your risk of serious illness if infected is less than 5 %. You are protected.
So, what now? Keep lining up for those vaccines. Many, Many pharmacies have the Moderna vaccines and some have the Pfizer vaccine. If you are anxiously waiting to hear from public health and you want to get your second shot earlier, call around to the pharmacies in your area who have the vaccine. Public health will call if you are registered. If you have not had your first dose, GWD public health welcomes you to show up at any mass vaccination clinic in our area. You will be given a vaccine on the day you arrive or the next day if appointments spots are full and all the vaccines are spoken for.
Get vaccinated. The vast majority of individuals who are acquiring COVID 19 and becoming seriously ill from COVID-19 are unvaccinated. The message is clear. Get vaccinated. Protect yourself, your community and help prevent a fourth wave in the fall... It's all good!
New guidelines for the vaccinated announced today are embedded in this article. Very interesting!
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/public-health-agency-of-canada-releases-guidance-on-what-fully-vaccinated-can-do-1.5485955
Anne-Marie
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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-
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