More Saskatchewan residents need vaccinations to reduce strain on the healthcare system | The Canadian News

Vaccination numbers in Saskatchewan are increasing at a slightly faster rate than last week after the provincial announcement of the vaccination trial program on Thursday.

Currently, about 70 percent of the eligible population has received at least one dose, while about 60 percent are fully vaccinated.

However, the majority of those in hospitals and the ICU with COVID-19 are people who have not yet been vaccinated.

“The way that all of us in this province can support our front-line healthcare services is, if you’re not vaccinated yet, if you’re part of that 30 percent that could be part of the 80 percent (unvaccinated) percent in our hospitals and in our ICU beds, I would ask you again to review your decision, ”Prime Minister Scott Moe said Thursday.

“It is the most effective tool that we have had personally and as a society to combat this virus,” he added.

So far, more than 1.5 million doses have been administered in Saskatchewan and more than 719,000 people are fully vaccinated.

Over the past week, more than 8,400 people came out and received their first dose.

However, vaccination figures in the north remain low compared to the rest of the province.

“We have a challenge in our vaccination rates in the far north and in many of our indigenous communities in this province and I have met with several of our indigenous leaders over the course of this campaign about that,” Moe said.

He goes on to say that he hopes the federal government will help Saskatchewan increase the number of vaccinations, not just in the province’s indigenous communities, but in all communities.

Regarding the proof of vaccination programs that will go into effect on October 1, infectious disease specialist Dr. Alex Wong says that government officials should have implemented it much earlier to avoid the dire situation in which are the hospitals and ICUs of Regina and Saskatoon is currently in.

Dr. Wong says medical professionals in Saskatchewan have been calling for stricter health care policies for “weeks and weeks” and have been disappointed to see government officials wait so long to act on the test of health care programs. vaccination.

Wong also says officials should go beyond the mandate for indoor masks and reinstate restrictions on collection sizes.

“I guess cheering and trying to encourage everyone to get vaccinated, who hadn’t been vaccinated, did nothing,” Wong said.

There are currently about 63,000 COVID-positive people in the province and 262 people are hospitalized or in ICU.

“These kinds of measures, certificates and mandates have obviously worked in almost every jurisdiction around the first world and therefore somehow believing that it would not work here in Saskatchewan is, it is what it is,” said the Dr. Wong.

“I mean, if we just look at what Manitoba did in terms of being proactive about their mandate program and about their masking and such and other things, they’re probably, again, in a way, in better shape because their Policy makers took proactive measures: they took them early, they took them definitively, to try to get ahead of all this rather than basically waiting until it was essentially too late, ”he added.

Dr. Wong says that much of his outreach work with those who are still undecided about receiving the jab involves several long, one-on-one conversations, which can last around an hour or even longer in some cases, to provide information. and statistics on effectiveness. of vaccines.

“It takes a lot of work, effort and energy to move people from the wavering category to action, and at the end of the day, you know it’s not a simple thing,” he said.

Both Moe and Wong say that fighting vaccine misinformation is also an ongoing battle for the province.

See link »