Compiled by: DR. ALINE TEZCUCANO Food Safety Regulatory Specialist Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development
COVID-19 & THE VACCINE OF
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COVID-19 & LA VACUNA DE ESPERANZA Manitoba’s first COVID-19 immunization clinic
launched on December 16, 2020 and immunized 900 health care workers. Over the coming months, this will become the largest immunization campaign in the province’s history and the next step in protecting Manitobans from the pandemic. Right now, supplies of the vaccine are very limited so only people in the priority groups are eligible to be immunized. As supply increases, there will be enough vaccine for every Manitoban who wants to get it. For the most current information about priority groups, current immunization clinics and the province’s future plans for the vaccine, go to Immunization Clinics.
What to do after I get the COVID-19 vaccine? Getting the vaccine does not mean you can resume daily activities of pre-coronavirus living, at least initially. Having a vaccine can help prevent COVID-19, protect your health, and limit the strain on our health care system. However, we must still follow public health fundamentals, even when a vaccine is available, such as staying home when sick, washing your hands, wearing a mask and limiting travelling (including international). The reality is it will take time to learn how well, the vaccine protects people around those who are vaccinated, and likely longer to reach a level of herd immunity that can allow us all to let down our guards, or at least our masks. What you can do includes: 14
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Be a caretaker for a friend or loved one with COVID-19 If you are vaccinated and someone in your household has the illness, you are in a good position to bring them food and drink, check their temperature, and keep them company. With you vaccinated, there is a small chance you will get infected, particularly if you continue to wear a mask and wash your hands frequently, as healthcare workers do.
What you can’t do after getting the vaccine includes: Planning to host an indoor maskless networking event is tricky. It depends on how careful people remain during the vaccine rollout, and how many people are willing to get it once they are able. Life won’t be 100% normal until the whole world has reached a 75% or 85% level of herd immunity to crush the virus (according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the US). It is not known yet, if the vaccine protects people from acquiring asymptomatic illness and becoming silent spreaders. Right now, we only know that the vaccines — Pfizer’s and Moderna’s — protect people from getting noticeably sick with COVID-19. Going straight from your first COVID-19 shot to a tequila shot at the bar next to the pharmacy is a bad idea. Why? Because it takes 10 to 12 days after getting the first dose of the vaccine to become effective against the coronavirus. Even then, it is only 52% effective. The vaccine does not reach its full efficacy — around INICIO
