Canada sees the need to vaccinate more young people

OTTAWA / CALGARY, Alberta, Sept. 3 (Reuters) – New modeling shows “urgent need” to vaccinate more young adults in Canada as the country fights a fourth wave of Delta-driven COVID-19 infections. the public health agency said Friday.

At the current rate of vaccination, new COVID-19 cases could surpass the peak of Canada’s third wave and could exceed hospital capacity in a few months, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) said.

Modeling showed the need to accelerate the overall vaccination rate, especially for age groups 18 to 39, to reduce the impact of Delta resurgence, PHAC said in a presentation.

“The bottom line is that millions of people across Canada remain unvaccinated and are at high risk for COVID-19 infections and serious illness,” said Canadian public health official Theresa Tam.

The western province of Alberta said it will hand out gift cards worth C $ 100 ($ 79.96) as an incentive to encourage unvaccinated Alberta residents to receive laundry. It is the first province in Canada to offer cash to increase vaccine uptake.

Alberta has the lowest vaccination rate in Canada and leads the country in new cases of COVID-19, recording 1,339 new cases on Thursday.

“This is a crisis of the unvaccinated,” Alberta Prime Minister Jason Kenney said Friday. “You’re putting yourself and your healthcare system at risk.”

The province is postponing non-essential surgeries as hospitals struggle to cope with the increasing influx of coronavirus patients and also reintroduces an inner mask warrant to try to contain the virus.

(1 $ = 1,2506 Canadian dollars)

Reports by Julie Gordon and Steve Scherer in Ottawa and Nia Williams in Calgary; Edited by Chris Reese and David Gregorio

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