COVID-19: Dr. Henry Disproves Fertility Conspiracy Theory As Vaccine Misinformation Spreads

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Provincial health official Dr. Bonnie Henry has pointed to a COVID-19 conspiracy theory that she believes could prevent women or men who want a baby from getting vaccinated.

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Henry said there were several reasons for vaccinating vaccinations in British Columbia at this time in different communities, and one was fear due to misinformation and misinformation spread on social media.

“There is misinformation, which is just things that are unintentionally wrong or bits of information that are taken out of context,” Henry said. “In some cases, particularly on social media, there is very sharp misinformation, intentionally misleading information, which is sent by certain groups of people to incite fear of vaccines.

“It’s particularly on social media and really what we have to do is have places, places where people can get credible information that helps allay some of those fears.”

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He said one of those conspiracy theories was that vaccination can affect fertility in both women and men.

“I can say unequivocally that these vaccines do not affect fertility, not in women, not in children, not in young men. They do not affect fertility. There is no way they can do that. But that’s one of the common lies out there right now designed to create fear. “

Henry said he had also heard reports from people in intensive care in British Columbia with COVID-19 who simply would not accept that they had COVID and from religious leaders in some communities who were mobilizing people against vaccination.

“There is a small proportion of people who still deny, even when they are in the hospital in the ICU, that it is actually COVID that is making them sick,” he said, adding that this adds an additional burden on healthcare workers who They try to treat those patients.

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British Columbia now has nearly 3.7 million fully vaccinated people, or 79.5 percent of people 12 years of age and older. However, more than 600,000 eligible people remain who have not received any vaccines.

Given the very high rate of people in the hospital who are not vaccinated, Health Minister Adrian Dix said that health authorities, notably Northern Health, which has six times the number of COVID-19 cases per capital in Compared to Vancouver Coastal Health at this time, they would continue to provide access to vaccines in remote communities and take a one vaccine at a time approach.

He said low vaccination rates at Northern Health were also leading to a disproportionate number of people in the hospital with COVID-19, which along with severe staffing problems, was causing a crisis.

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As a result, Dix said 12 patients, including nine who are positive for COVID, had been transferred to ICU units at hospitals at Vancouver Coastal Health, Fraser Health and Island Health.

Dix said 15 ICU beds, 10 in Metro Vancouver and five on Vancouver Island, had been established for patients transferred from the north.

He added that the Pfizer vaccine could be available soon for British Columbia children between the ages of six and 11 as clinical trials were wrapping up and the results would be sent to Health Canada for evaluation shortly.

“I think this is very good news,” Dix said. “That gives us one more tool to be able to protect the youngest children against this virus.”

525 new cases of COVID-19 were reported during the last day and one death. There are 5,282 active cases of the disease in British Columbia, of which 332 are being treated in hospital, including 155 in intensive care.

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