Despite two-thirds of Hamilton’s adult population having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, the city’s medical officer of health says a significant number of people have still not gotten the shot, which could give life to more infectious variants proliferating in Ontario.
Getting control of the virus is a ‘critical element’ in public health’s plan for getting out of the pandemic, according to Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, since variants can’t spread if they don’t exist.
“You can’t get variants if it’s not there, if it’s not being generated through transmission in an ongoing way,” Richardson told Global News.
The concern comes as the more transmissible and infectious B.1.617 variant, first discovered in India and now referred to as Delta, is on its way to becoming the dominant strain across Ontario within weeks as suggested by data from the province’s latest COVID-19 epidemiological report.
Dr. Dominik Mertz, director of infection prevention and control at Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS), says the issue with Delta is its transmissibility — suggested by some health organizations across the world to be between 50 and 80 per cent more efficient than previous mutations.
“There’s some level of immune evasiveness, as you’ve probably heard, with the first vaccine (dose) particularly not being as effective, it seems, compared to Alpha,” Mertz told HHS staffers in a briefing on Thursday.
A recent post in the Lancet Journal says new studies are showing that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is likely to produce five times lower levels of neutralizing antibodies against the Delta variant than the original iteration of the coronavirus.
As of Friday, Hamilton public health reported the identity of just under 7,000 variants among the city’s 20,000-plus cases.
The Alpha variant, also knows as B.1.1.7 first discovered in the U.K., is the most dominant with just under 5,000 of those recorded.
Mertz said there’s still some “guesswork” from epidemiologists across the province on how much of the Delta variant has taken hold of the province’s new cases due to challenges in identity research.
Richardson says that’s where the speed of initial vaccinations becomes paramount in hindering the spread of the variant.
“The thing with this one is that it does look like you need to have two doses of vaccine in order to get the best coverage,” Richardson said.
“Everybody’s looking at how do we move forward, how do we continue to move forward with first doses? That’s absolutely critical.”
As of Thursday close to 9.5 million vaccine doses have been administered across Ontario with around 340,000 given out in Hamilton. Just over 64 per cent of Hamiltonians over the age of 18 and 16 per cent of youth aged 12-plus have received a vaccine to date.
Public health data is suggesting that about 50 per cent of those that become eligible for a vaccine are getting one from the city’s clinics, pharmacies and personal care physicians relatively quickly with another 15 per cent just weeks behind.
Richardson says the city is still researching and working with community agencies to understand why the remaining numbers are considerably slower at getting a shot.
“We’re working with people to understand that, because they’re still not certain about the vaccines or what they’re supposed to do,” Richardson said.
Upcoming clinics in the city include two mobile settings dispensing second doses of the Moderna for those aged 80 and up early next week at the Ancaster Rotary Centre Sunday and Saltfleet Community Centre in Stoney Creek on Monday.
As of Friday, those who received a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine can begin booking a second shot at the pharmacy or primary care provider at which they had their first appointment.
AstraZeneca recipients who wish for their second shot to be one of the mRNA vaccines (Pfizer or Moderna) can begin booking on Monday for a date at or beyond the required 12-week interval through the provincial booking system.
Hamilton reports 51 new COVID-19 cases, 1 death
Hamilton reported 51 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, as well as its 391st virus-related death.
The latest fatality was a person in their 80s.
Active cases continued to drop again day-over-day to 467 on Friday, from 474 on Thursday.
The percentage of Hamilton tests returning from Ontario labs as positive for COVID-19 is 6.1 per cent.
The number is higher than the province’s last reported number, 2.8 per cent, on June 4.
The city’s reproductive number — the average number of people an infected person is passing COVID-19 on to — went up slightly on Friday to 0.89 from the previous 0.68.
One new outbreak was declared on Thursday at Hamilton General hospital in its 7S section which is a dedicated stroke unit. The surge involves four patients.
Two outbreaks were closed on June 3 at a pair of child-care centres: Quality Foundations Childcare in Waterdown and St. Martin’s Manor Early Learning Centre on the Mountain.
The largest of the two surges was at Quality Foundations which had 11 total cases among four staffers and seven patrons.
Hamilton has 81 cases tied to 16 active outbreaks as of Friday.
Hamilton’s two hospital agencies are reporting 70 COVID-19 patients occupying beds across the city.
St. Joe’s says it has 20 patients with COVID-19, with 14 in intensive care (ICU).
Hamilton Health Sciences facilities have three more COVID-19 patients as of Friday moving to 51 from 48 requiring treatment. Twenty of the patients are in an ICU.