Ontario Canada says it is in the third wave of Covid-19, and officials are concerned that the vaccine launch will not happen fast enough

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“We’re in the third wave. The numbers are rising slowly, they won’t go as fast as the modelers predicted,” said Dr. David Williams, chief physician in Ontario. He added: “We are now starting to see impacts on hospital rates, ICU admissions are rising again and hospital admissions are rising again.”
It was worrying news for a province where most residents have been in some state of closure since late last year.

Canadian public health officials also warned that vaccine deployment would not occur quickly enough to stop what could be a potentially devastating third wave in other parts of the country, further underscoring hospital capacity.

“COVID-19 activity has stabilized at a high level since mid-February and the average daily count of cases is increasing now,” Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s head of public health, said Monday.

“While vaccine programs are accelerating, it will be important to maintain a high degree of caution. Any moderation in public health measures should be done slowly with improved testing, screening, and genomic analysis to detect variants of concern.” he said in a statement.

Canada has reported more than 938,000 suspected or confirmed cases of coronavirus since the start of the pandemic and has reported more than 22,000 deaths.

Public health officials have warned for weeks that Canada was risking a third wave fueled by variants that are more transmissible and, in some cases, can lead to more serious illnesses.

Vaccine shortage

Last month, as the country faced a severe shortage of vaccines, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned that a third wave was possible.

“We need to continue to take strong public health measures,” Trudeau said during a Covid-19 update in February, because otherwise we could see a third wave that is even worse than the second or first, and I know that it’s not news you want to hear. “

Monday said vaccine shipments would continue to rise and Canada is expected to receive up to 2 million doses this week, the largest amount received in a single week since it approved four vaccinated candidates for use. emergency.

But officials across the country now face the possibility that vaccines will not be distributed in time to prevent a significant number of hospitalizations and deaths.

Also Monday, the province of Alberta said it would postpone reopening, as it also saw increases in hospitalizations due to Covid-19.

“Half of those in a hospital bed for COVID are under 65 and almost 90% of those in an ICU for Covid are under 65. Most would not be there if they had been vaccinated in that time, “Tyler Shandro, Alberta’s health minister, said Monday during an update to Covid-19.

While variant B.1.1.7, first detected in the UK, fuels an increase in cases in Alberta, the Health Minister also blamed the federal government for not ensuring enough doses of vaccine in time to vaccinate many people who are still at risk for serious results.

Canada received a boost from the Biden administration last week when the two countries reached an agreement that would allow the United States to release 1.5 million of its AstraZeneca doses to Canada in the coming days. The United States is stockpiling the AstraZeneca vaccine until it receives FDA approval, which is not likely until at least next month.

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