Sara Fung was overwhelmed with excitement when the first COVID-19 vaccines began arriving in Canada last December, and again in March when she received her first dose.
When she felt the needle stick in her arm, the Hamilton area nurse thought of the grandmother who lost to COVID-19 almost a year earlier.
Pandemic restrictions prevented Fung from properly suffering the death of her grandmother when the “glue of the family” died in a long-term care home in Toronto in April 2020. Although the matriarch was 100 years old, Fung says she was healthy and alive, and it would probably survive a couple more years.
“I remember feeling very lucky (to get the vaccine). It was really a tribute to my grandmother, ”Fung said, pausing to hold back tears during a virtual interview. “I was thinking: ‘If this had been available to her, I have no doubt that she would still be alive today.”
Tuesday marks the first anniversary of the first COVID-19 vaccines administered in Canada, a milestone that offered hope for a new year after a dismal 2020.
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Fung was not among the prioritized high-risk groups in the early days of the launch, but she and other Canadian health workers have been reflecting on the past year as the anniversary of their own vaccine approaches.
Fung, who serves as co-director of infection prevention and control at her hospital, said 2021 was a year to learn more about the virus, which continues to throw curveballs as new variants emerge.
“This year really stood out … that we can never let our guard down because we don’t know what’s coming,” he said.
Another Hamilton-area nurse said receiving her first dose in March 2021 was a “bittersweet” experience.
Amie Archibald-Varley, who co-hosts the Gritty Nurse podcast with Fung, had helped screen patients for COVID-19 early in the pandemic and was relieved to gain protection from the vaccine. But like Fung, she was flooded with difficult memories as she sat down for her jab.
Archibald-Varley was part of his hospital’s essential care partner program, where he helped establish virtual communications so that family members of people dying from COVID-19 could say goodbye to their loved ones.
“It was difficult to see how the families interacted,” he said. “Many of his stories impacted me.”
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Much less was known about COVID-19 at that stage of the pandemic, adding significant challenges for some healthcare workers. Archibald-Varley recalls taking off his gown in the garage after check-in shifts and telling his children to keep their distance for fear of infecting them.
These measures were largely abandoned as scientists learned more through 2020, but many healthcare workers continued to maintain their distance in public and limit social contacts, even after being vaccinated.
Both Fung and Archibald-Varley said that daily life didn’t change much after their first doses (public health restrictions remained in place while most Canadians waited their turn in the vaccine line), but the arrival of injections in large amounts in the spring and summer, coupled with declining cases after a rough third wave, gave both nurses hope that the pandemic would soon end.
Archibald-Varley received an added buoyancy jolt recently when his sons, 10-year-old twins and a six-year-old daughter, received their first blows.
“That was even more rewarding than getting a vaccine myself,” he said.
While the vaccines indicated optimism, the threat of the Omicron variant has clouded the hope of some. Scientists are rushing to learn how easily Omicron is transmitted, whether it causes serious disease, and how much it could elude vaccine coverage.
Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious disease expert at the University of Alberta, feels “qualified optimism” for 2022, hoping that vaccines still offer some protection.
“The fact that this variant has emerged and is now found in so many countries tells us that this virus has many tricks up its sleeve,” he said.
“But on the other hand, we have a lot more tricks up our sleeves: new therapies, the ability to restructure vaccines relatively quickly.”
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Saxinger said she was inspired to see swarms of people lining up to get vaccinated during 2021, far outnumbering those who are wary of blows.
She received her first injection in January and the second six weeks later, relieving the great sense of anxiety she had been feeling throughout 2020.
“A lot of people in healthcare had been carrying this burden of ‘I don’t want to get sick,” Saxinger said, adding that he didn’t want to leave his co-workers understaffed or bring the virus home. his family.
“After the second dose I felt more comfortable. It was less stressful. “
Dr. Naheed Dosani, a health equity leader at Kensington Health in Toronto, described similar relief after getting vaccinated on New Year’s Eve.
He also felt a surge of gratitude for the rapid development of the new mRNA punctures.
“I was thinking about the power of human innovation, science, perseverance and dedication that allowed this vaccine to be created in such a short time, with immense human collaboration in every country, on every continent,” he said.
“For one thing, it’s fluid in a syringe, but it incorporates so many things that show why humans are amazing.”
Dosani said that receiving her first dose on the last day of 2020 was especially symbolic, as it served as a happy milestone to usher in the new year.
But the palliative care specialist also thought of populations disproportionately affected by COVID-19 when it took its hit, and hopes that a legacy of Canada’s pandemic experience will be a commitment to addressing inequities in health care.
“I was celebrating (getting vaccinated) but also reflecting on so many who suffered and so many who died as a result of the virus,” Dosani said.
“That continues to motivate me to work to support patients dealing with COVID-19 … but also to advocate for better policies in Canada.”
Reference-globalnews.ca