Vaccines will get us back to normal. Why is Canada pretending otherwise?

Share this Story: Vaccines will get us back to normal. Why is Canada pretending otherwise?

Vaccines will get us back to normal. Why is Canada pretending otherwise? Tristin Hopper: COVID-19 vaccines are working better than anyone expected at preventing the spread of the virus — even amid a rise in new and more powerful variants Photo by Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

Article content Over the weekend, Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, told an online audience that even the fully vaccinated can still spread and contract COVID-19. “There’s reduction in your risk of transmission, but it doesn’t necessarily eliminate your risk of transmission,” she told a virtual town hall. The statement is technically true. But the risk of transmission for the fully vaccinated is so infinitesimally low – about 0.01 per cent according to U.S. data – that Tam may as well be highlighting the dangers of getting strangled by a seatbelt. We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Vaccines will get us back to normal. Why is Canada pretending otherwise? Back to video Nevertheless, the statement is in keeping with an official Canadian line on vaccines that has persistently understated their effectiveness and ability to restore the country to normal operations. In a world where vaccinated populations are preparing to return to work, Canada is continuing to prescribe masking and social distancing for the vaccinated that is well beyond what the science would suggest.

Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Article content On Monday, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland all reported 24 hours without a single coronavirus death — the first time since the onset of COVID-19. Second only to Israel, the Brits are the most vaccinated people on earth. The sudden absence of any COVID-19 deaths is not only a testament to the U.K.’s triumph at early vaccination, but the best real-world example of a phenomenon that is appearing all over the world: COVID-19 vaccines are working better than anyone expected at preventing the spread of the virus — even amid a global rise in new and more powerful variants. Photo by National Health Service In February, it was data out of Israel that provided the first compelling evidence that vaccines would not only stop COVID-19 patients from dying, but could check the virus’ spread through the population. A February study from Israel’s Sheba Medical Center, for one, found that after the hospital’s 7,000 staff received just one dose of the Pfizer vaccine, both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 plunged by 75 per cent between 15 and 28 days after the shot.

Article content Photo by Israeli Ministry of Health Aggressive vaccination in the United States has similarly blunted the worst effects of the pandemic. Deaths have been in freefall since January and now stand lower even than July 2020, when much of the country was under some form of lockdown in the wake of the first wave. Not only is the virus less dangerous, but its spread has been significantly slowed: The United States is now seeing fewer new cases than at any other time since the end of its second wave in September. There are indeed cases of “vaccine breakthrough” (patients who contract COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated), but they are low enough that a fully vaccinated American effectively faces the same risks from COVID-19 as from the common flu. As of April 26, more than 95 million people in the United States have been fully vaccinated. Of those, only 9,245 have become vaccine breakthrough cases and 132 have died. For context, in a given week any group of 95 million Americans can statistically expect to see 1,100 accidental deaths due to injuries and 250 deaths due to suicide. Proportionally, if Canada could see that same rate of COVID-19 deaths, the pandemic would instantly become about as deadly as the country’s annual toll of fatalities caused by wild animals.

Article content Photo by Centres for Disease Control A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine followed 417 fully vaccinated employees of New York City’s Rockefeller University to see if any would become “breakthrough” cases. Two did – both women in their 50s and 60s – but the infections subsided after only a few days of flu-like symptoms. It’s these kinds of indicators that have caused the Centres for Disease Control to now recommend that the fully vaccinated can gather, remove their masks and even be in the presence of COVID-19 patients without needing to self-isolate. As virtually every day yields more evidence of the miracle of vaccines, Canadian public health officials continue to downplay the obvious: That vaccination is ultimately a ticket back to normal life.

Article content “I think our most important messages to be really clear to Canadians is that it doesn’t matter whether you had one dose or two doses,” said Tam in an April 27 statement that brazenly overlooks reams of data indicating the exact opposite. On Monday, a study using data from Public Health England found that, after only one dose, both the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines leave patients with an 80 per cent lower chance of dying from COVID-19. After two doses of Pfizer, that rises to 97 per cent. Canada’s official post-vaccination guidelines prescribe no change to daily routines and recommend full adherence to mask and social distancing mandates. In March, Tam said that even after the bulk of Canadians were vaccinated, social distancing measures “are going to continue for some time.” In late April, Canadians were told that a loosening of restrictions wouldn’t come until 75 per cent of Canadian adults had received at least one dose of the vaccine. To a fully vaccinated Canadian, COVID-19 becomes about as likely to kill them as tuberculosis and yet they’re still being asked to hang tight for a milestone that may not be reached until June. Canada is fortunate to have a relatively low rate of vaccine hesitancy; only 23.1 per cent, according to March Statistics Canada data. It means there are hopefully enough willing participants for Canada to smoothly vaccinate its way into herd immunity without any holdouts compromising the process. But Canadians would be right to question why their government is pushing a vaccine while simultaneously dismissing its many and increasingly documented benefits.

Share this article in your social network

Shopping essentials Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

NP Posted Sign up to receive the daily top stories from the National Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. Email Address There was an error, please provide a valid email address. By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300 Thanks for signing up! A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it please check your junk folder. The next issue of NP Posted will soon be in your inbox. We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again