01-04-2022, 11:33 PM
(01-03-2022, 11:26 PM)tomh009 Wrote: If the early Omicron severity data proves to be correct (and that's still definitely an "if") the (Omicron) risk to a vaccinated person will likely start to approach the risk from the seasonal flu. Maybe not yet at that level, but going in that direction.
So, flu is bad, and omicron is also bad. Is omicron more bad among vaccinated? I dunno. Maybe. But it is true that we don't currently have hard data.
What is definitely very bad is overwhelming the health system by everyone getting omicron at once.
The "omicron is mild" crowd, to me, seems to be encountering the "hospital systems overwhelmed" facts. Quebec is at an all-time high. Ontario is currently at 50% of the delta peak with respect to hospitalizations.
(01-04-2022, 12:30 AM)ac3r Wrote: I wonder if it's just easier to mandate vaccines at this point? We had a national campaign to get vaccinated and most of us did. We were told we could return to normal once that happened. Just pull out your QR code first, of course. Now the vaccinated have been locked down again from living life. So what was the point? Force the anti-vaxxers to get it or let it burn through them like wildfire. I don't get why the rest of us get to have our very own lives restricted yet again. This is nonsense.
I've lived through an actual lockdown (two). This is very far from that. OK, gyms and indoor dining is closed. Would you go? (OK, I would go to the climbing gym wearing an N95 at low-occupancy times. I would not go to a normal gym, and I would sure as hell not eat in a dining room right about now).
(01-04-2022, 12:34 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: FWIW...as a result of this pandemic, I'm much more aware of the harm caused by the flu. It kills (in the US, where the numbers I saw are from) tens of thousands of people including hundreds of children every year. I'm no longer satisfied with our public health response to the flu. Our flu vaccination programs should be much more widespread, and it's shocking to me that the flu vaccine isn't free everywhere in Canada.
The flu vaccine is not free in some provinces? It is not free in NZ, which is shocking to me. The other unfortunate thing about the flu vaccine is that the efficacy is actually pretty low.