Hamilton’s medical officer of health believes it will take most of the summer to get at least 70 per cent of the city’s population fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Dr. Elizabeth Richardson says only about 22 per cent of the adult population has had two doses as of the third week in June and suggests there’s still “a fair number of Hamiltonians to go” even with clinics currently running at capacity.
“We definitely see a strong supply coming through,” Richardson said.
“We’ll be able to get many doses out through the end of this summer, really, and getting our rates well up, I would say, into the mid-70s by the end of this summer for two doses.”
As of Monday, around 72.2 per cent of adults in Hamilton have had at least a single shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, with at least 463,000 doses administered. Just over 55 per cent of youth aged 12 to 17 years have received at least one dose.
With an estimated 68 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines expected in Canada by the end of July, according the federal government, Richardson says an important piece of the continuing rollout is making sure the city has an “equitable and accessible” vaccine program.
That means working with those who are finding it difficult to reach the vaccine and who may have particular concerns that they want to discuss with somebody, Richardson said.
“That’s really going to be more and more a focus of our program as we go forward — working with people who don’t quite understand the information.”
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The city added 35,000 appointments to the province’s booking system on Tuesday, preparing for another expansion in the program on Wednesday with those who received an mRNA vaccine before May 30 becoming eligible to book a second dose.
Over the next week, residents over 18 can expect to get the Moderna shot no matter what vaccine was they received as a first dose due to a slowdown in shipments of Pfizer-BioNTech doses through June and July.
Richardson says the remaining Pfizer doses the city has are earmarked for those aged 12 to 17 since that’s the only one of all the vaccines approved for use with that age group.
“We will make sure that when you arrive at the clinic, you’re aware of what vaccine you may get. But as I said, we won’t be able to switch vaccines at that point,” Richardson said.
Several of the city’s infectious disease specialists say getting the message out about the negligible difference between the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine brands is a priority with the impending shortage.
Infection control director at St. Joe’s Hamilton, Dr. Zain Chagla, says medically, the goal of the two vaccines is exactly the same — to boost an immune response.
“They act the same in your body,” Chagla told Global News. “Your body doesn’t really know the difference and the whole purpose is that you boost that response. You mature your immune system so you can get back to normal.”
Hamilton reports 12 new COVID-19 cases, case rates continue steep decline
Hamilton’s key average case rates continued to decline on Tuesday with the city’s seven-day average checking in at just 16, much less than the 61 case average reported by public health on June 1.
At beginning of the month, the city had just over 500 active cases. As of Tuesday, there are now about a third of that number, 139, as of June 22.
More than 69 per cent of the city’s active cases are among people under the age of 50, with about 18 per cent of cases among those aged 19 and under.
Public health reported just 12 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.
The city is now down to just three reported outbreaks with two declared over at National Steel Car and the Salvation Army shelter at York Boulevard on Monday.
The largest ongoing surge is at the Denholme Manor supportive home, which accounts for 12 cases since May 23.
Hamilton hospitals have 33 COVID-19 patients as of Tuesday with 22 in intensive care (ICU).
Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) is reporting 19 COVID cases with eight in intensive care (ICU) while St. Joe’s has 14, all in ICUs.
As of Sunday, the science table estimating about a third of cases of COVID-19 in Ontario are due to the Delta variant.
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