The Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU) and Doctors Nova Scotia say COVID-19 vaccines will have a tremendous impact on their members, and are experiencing a sense of relief.
Nova Scotia received its first allotment of 1,950 doses of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday.
President of the NSGEU, Jason MacLean, says health-care workers have been working under stringent conditions since the pandemic began and are highly stressed.
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“Now there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and people are beginning to get vaccinated. And for the last nine months where we’ve been holding our breath, we can slowly exhale,” he said.
“What we’ll be seeing is more and more people get vaccinated and ultimately we reach that herd immunity where, you know, this pandemic is no more.”
But until that takes place, MacLean says there won’t be any real relief.
He says health-care workers are familiar with the health-care system and trust in vaccines, so for the most part people are on board to get them.
A family physician and past president of Doctors Nova Scotia, Dr. Gary Ernest, says the vaccines have been tested adequately.
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“They’ve been tested in a fast-track method, but they had to be in order to address the urgent needs of the population because of the pandemic,” said Ernest.
“We feel that given these unusual circumstances, the vaccines that are going to be used have shown that they are both effective and they are safe,” he added.
Ernest said it’s important for the public to be aware that everybody who wants a vaccination will ultimately get one.
The first people that will be vaccinated, according to MacLean, are people working in COVID-19 units and emergency departments and then vaccinations will move to people in long-term care facilities, and ultimately people that are older and at risk.
“Unfortunately, I won’t see it until probably next fall. But one thing that feels great for me is to see more and more people get vaccinated. That’s less people that have an opportunity to spread this virus. And that is one step closer to us defeating it,” MacLean said.
He said that regardless of who gets vaccinated, PPE levels will stay the same in terms of usage.
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“This is very important because we can’t act as if the virus isn’t there just simply because we got vaccinated, especially when we know it’s a 95 per cent rate and not 100 per cent perfect.”
Ernest said it’s important for everybody in the province to keep in mind the protection against the virus is not going to happen overnight.
“It’s still critical to keep practicing the same safe public health practices … it will be like that for a long time.”
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