scrubbedexpat091

I don't know if they changed it here in BC, but last I saw BC went more hardcore and said no medical exemptions at all, which did have some doctors in the news making waves, but I don't know if the government backtracked at all, things too fast, too often to keep track of everything.

I found an updated article seems there is some vague possibility of medical exemptions but it didn't actually list any details, as to what the requirements would be, just that a medical exemption might be an option in some cases.

Siouxie

That's not strictly true... there are two 'advised' reasons - but there are many reasons that are not included in those 2.. https://health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/prog...accination.pdf

printer

Yes it seems that we are in a never ending round of new rules to stop this thing in its tracks. Today in BC it was announced that all children from 5 years will be added to the mask mandate for indoors because they are now having to wear them in school it makes sense they say because they aren't vaccinated. So we have now moved the blame game for transmission to all the unvaxxed kids who can't get it anyway because of their age. Prior to this it was young adults who were the bad people because they weren't vaccinating so we came up with passports but kids don't need them yet. We can eat at a coffee shop seated unvaxxed but not in a restaurant seated unvaxxed yet we can be served by an unvaxxed person. We can travel by ferry unvaxxed but not by plane. We can fly to the US but we can't drive???? Currently Israel have stated that all vaccine passports will no longer be valid unless the person has had the third shot.

Mordko

Apart from examples of healthcare systems being overwhelmed as noted above:

- the cost per ICU C-19 patient is $50K. And they are not paying out of their pockets. Vaccinating you are protecting the taxpayer’s pocket.
- Full ICUs cause lock-downs to prevent healthcare system from being completely overwhelmed. Lockdowns cost businesses workers and, again, the taxpayer. Vaccination prevents all of that.
- I’ve seen studies that for Delta vaccination reduces the risk of passing the virus to a close contact by 10%. More for other variants. Businesses are doing what they can to reduce risk. Seems reasonable.
- On top of that, businesses don’t want to lose lots of their staff for long periods of time or forever. Enforcing vaccination makes business sense.

But we agree that vaccination should have been mandated on a consistent basis, federally and a long time ago. Decision makers are missing a spine.

caretaker

No sign of relief in Saskatchewan yet.
"Saskatchewan has been forced to cancel 200 surgeries a day as it tries to combat the rising numbers of cases, according to Dr. Hassan Masri, an intensive care specialist who works at Royal University Hospital and St. Paul's Hospital in Saskatoon. We have [had] over 200 surgeries and procedures being cancelled every single day now for the last two weeks," he said in an interview. "So we're talking about almost 3,000 surgeries and procedures that have been cancelled over the span of two weeks."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saska...ewan-1.6200378
Edit: While this is an opinion piece, it's chock full of good old professional research, results, and data about vaccine effectiveness and how the way it was introduced (getting everyone the first dose as fast as possible and delaying the 2nd shot) seems to be paying off.
"Dr. Danuta Skowronski, a vaccine effectiveness expert and epidemiology lead at the BCCDC whose research laid the groundwork for the decision to hold back second doses based on the "fundamental principles of vaccinology," says the early data is extremely encouraging."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/canad...ines-1.6205993

caretaker

A local brewery has been flooded with messages of support since a nasty customer incident on Friday night:
"A gentleman had made a reservation for what we thought was a table of six," said Heise. "When he arrived, when we asked for proof of vaccination, he showed us … a picture of a middle finger. "
https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6206557
I checked, and sure enough there was still one of these bad boys in the fridge; I'm doing this to show solidarity.

spouse of scouse

Karen's brother Kevin.

You're a good comrade

Danny B

Christ this third shot hit me hard, I was pretty much wiped out all of yesterday. Chills, temperature, fatigue, blah blah blah. These microchips are hard on the body.
feeling fine now though.

Former Lancastrian

You would think that a 3rd shot wouldn't be needed. Just download it via the microchip.

scrubbedexpat091

How was your first 2 in comparison?

But these COVID vaccines are pretty harsh compared to any others I ever had, the moderna was I was not expecting it to be as rough as it was, I thought maybe like flu vaccine a little sore, a little tired, but holy was it so much worse, but only about 12-16 hours of it, then back to normal so not horrible just not pleasent.

Danny B

The first two shots were Pfizer and weren’t an issue. The 3rd was Moderna and hit me much harder. The nurse gave me a choice of one or the other but said something about the Moderna being more effective against the delta variant so I foolishly opted for that instead.

scrubbedexpat091

I think I want to try Pfizer if I ever get a 3rd, Moderna hit me hard like you describe, I swear at one point I was hullacinating during the fever but maybe it was just a lucid dream, world will never know.

spouse of scouse

Sorry you felt so bad but glad you're ok now. And all vaxxed up!

If I'm offered a third jab I'll take whatever's available. People were running around like chooks with their heads cut off about the 'risk' of the AZ vaccine and I didn't buy into that nonsense, so AZ, Pfizer, Moderna - bring it on.

Almost Canadian

On the issue of how much an ICU patient costs, I can never understand these sorts of things. The staff are employed anyway so, if they weren't treating someone in ICU, they would be treating someone somewhere else. I accept that overtime may be an issue but I cannot imagine that all of the expense is overtime and, yes, I accept that there is a cost to keep the lights on and the temperature controlled.

I am not against vaccination but, if the reductions you have suggested are correct, it would appear that those vaccinated are almost as capable of passing the virus on as those that aren't. Now, if the reduction was the other way around and they only had 10% of the chance that an unvaccinated did, it could be argued that the vaccinated pose way less of a risk to others as a non-vaccinated would.

caretaker

I went in the Superstore liquor store this morning (don't judge me!) and the clerk politely asked for proof of vaccination and ID. We use an app from gurgle playstore and verify our status then enter the qr code from our account at the saskhealth website... remember to breathe... and it gives you green for go or red for no. I just touch the app on my phone and show him this cert and my driver's license.