BristolUK

I'm sure that will happen if need be. Depending how quickly they get the kids done.

OrangeMango

Austria seems to be offering the 3rd shot for any age cohort over 18 with all vaccines, not only AZ but also BioNTech Pfizer and Moderna. It seems a free choice there.

I truly hope that Canada doesn't bring in another quarantine for the vaccinated, - that'll be a blow.

scrubbedexpat099

Free choice where I am and open to everybody, well after 6 months of your second jab. Seems most people mix and match.

Nand

The old vax isn't protective against Omicron, the protien spike on this new variant mutated so much its not like the original Wuhan SarsCov. Seems all people vaxed or not should lay low until more is known. It takes a few months to 'tweak' vaxes so boosters on shelves now would be useless if this new varient 'OM' takes over like Delta did.

I hope CovSars mutates itself into a mild sniffle one day. 😄 🌸💛💜

spouse of scouse

I thought there are no credible findings as yet on the efficacy of current covid vaccines against the omicron variant?

Jerseygirl

I thought the same.

Piff Poff

My friend has had the booster. She's had 1 Astra Zeneca, 1 Pfizer and 1 Moderna. She forgot which ones she'd had. Needed the booster as She's traveling.

scrubbedexpat091

More pandemic burnout for nurses, Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver one of the hardest hit in Vancouver Coastal Health.

Some units seeing only 3 nurses for 37 patients.

Nurses union recently did a survey of their members, 35% saying the pandemic has them considering leaving the profession, and 51% of ER and ICU nurses saying they plan to leave the profession.

Possibly over 1,000, scheduled surgeries will be delayed at Lions Gate Hospital through to April due to shortages of staff.

Since 3rd week of October Lions Gate has had 2 OR's closed due to lack of staff which translates to 6-8 surgeries each day being postponed according to the BC Ministry Of Health.

BC estimated pre-pandemic that BC would be short 29,000 nurses by end of the decade.

It apparently takes a foreign trained nurse several years in order to practice in BC according to the article which probably doesn't help attract nurses to BC from outside Canada.

https://www.nsnews.com/local-news/ov...on-rep-4804360


The pandemic is collapsing the healthcare system.

Jerseygirl

2 cases of Omicron in Ottawa…travelled from Nigeria.

https://www.cp24.com/mobile/news/two...iant-1.5684896

caretaker

Maybe it makes the difference between 2 cases and having 20 or 30 cases tomorrow. Slowing the introduction is supposed to buy time to study the new variant and develop a defense.

BEVS

Agreed. Stop people movement to slow any spread and buy time.

Jerseygirl

This.

caretaker

What Dr Fauci said on the news was the physical appearance of the little devil indicates it could be more transmissable than previous variants. He sounded pretty convincing. If he's right, Omichron might be better at attaching itself to receptors in the nose, airways and lungs. Sounds like masks and distancing are the logical response, but it will be worrying until we know more about the level of sickness and long term damage it causes. I think the science is amazing; they are able to identify the parts of the new variant that are different and work towards tweaking vaccines to fight it. When you think about what has been accomplished in 2 years re; development, distribution, education, medical care (remember ventilator and ppe procurement frenzy) we're in such better shape now it's like night and day. Now that we have things more or less organised the time is overdue for the developed nations to start walking the walk and send all the vaccine doses promised to third world countries.

OrangeMango

The thing, is ultimately everyone of us will be infected with Covid 19, Omicron or not. A good example is looking at Gibraltar, 100% of the population vaccinated, currently the incidence rate is very high, similar to some places in mainland Europe, but hospitalization very very low in Gibraltar.

The only answer is vaccination not further travel restrictions. Travel restrictions and quarantine and other testing hurdles upon entry to Canada won't help at all, even though some Canadian politicians might still believe in it.

Vaccination in Canada should be mandatory, in the case if a vaccination rate of 100% of the eligible population can't be achieved. It's the only way back to a normal and decent life.

caretaker

If there was only one flavour of Covid 19 vaccinating everyone would be a simple solution and there would be no need to slow the spread. However, each variant so far has shown to have it's own characteristics. I'm trusting in politicians to implement the advice of health professionals because in the cases where they haven't, people have paid and are paying with their lives. Epidemiologists and immunologists are the people who understand the problem and formulate the responses. Politicians who refuse to take that advice or delay implementing those responses to pander to the voters don't deserve much respect.