It has been a long haul of 16 months in Canada, and specifically Ontario. Ontario has made some major mistakes in its pandemic response, resulting in prolonged lock down, but all that is now in the past. Now we are in a better place, with over 50% of citizens double vaccinated and near 78% single vaccinated. Lock down measures have been greatly reduced. But is the pandemic over? Not by a long shot.
Most importantly from a Western viewpoint, we should acknowledge that the West has hoarded most of the world’s vaccines. The world has only 1% inoculated against this killer virus, leaving the rest of the world to fend for themselves. Africa, South America, wide swaths of South East Asia have not enough vaccine. Within these unvaccinated areas of the world, new variants can and will emerge and return to the West.
Though we have vaccines in arms, there are new CoVid-19 variants around the world, the most contagious being the Delta variant, from India. We are now seeing that the Delta variant can infect vaccinated people, sickening but not killing them. Vaccination is not a silver bullet against infection, but gives you a higher chance of not dying or having to go to the hospital. It might still make you really sick for 2-4 days, but you should recover. You might think you’re going to die, but hopefully you won’t. There is a question of long covid for vaccinated people. Another question is how infections are people who are vaccinated but then contract the virus? We simply do not know for sure.
There is evidence around the world of vaccinated people contracted Covid-19. Israel, the US, the UK, Singapore and other countries all report fully vaccinated people, ones that had two mRNA shots contracting the virus, called “breakthrough infections”.
What can be done for people who are vaccinated and do not want to get the virus? We can fall back to our tried and true infection control: wear face masks, social distancing, reduce exposure to indoor crowded places, pay attention to adequate ventilation. While their track records are still unknown, countries that throw the doors wide open, such as the US and the UK, are seeing their infection rates rapidly rise during the summer, when traditionally this is a time when rates should be as low as possible.
Summary: Stay the course, wear your mask when around people you don’t know, reduce your exposure to crowds, watch the ventilation wherever you are, and social distance. These measures, along with vaccines, have worked in the past, and should keep us from getting infected.