Dr. Paul Roumeliotis: "We need to close the gender gap on vaccines"

While the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) would like to see 90% of the population vaccinated, Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, the region's Chief Medical Officer, explains the strategies that still need to be accomplished to reach this goal. 

 As cases begin to rise, Ontario has 511 new cases. In Clarence-Rockland there are 2 active cases, and 3 in the UCPR, with 14 in the EOHU. Further, 2 new cases were recorded over the weekend and one unvaccinated patient was hospitalized. In addition, 6 cases of the Delta variant have been recorded in the last few months.  

On the other hand, it is mainly in hospitals that people who are half-vaccinated or not vaccinated are revealed. Of the 58 patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit, only one is fully vaccinated. 

 Even so, those administered in the hospital will be much less frequent even if cases continue to increase, all thanks to vaccines. 

 Dr. Paul says a total of 282,598 doses were administered. Of these doses, 149,078 were for the first dose and 133,520 were for the second dose. 

 While the difference is narrowing in terms of the age gap, there are still a few things that could be improved. It is hoped that vaccination will increase for those under 30 years of age and that vaccination of young men will increase, as they are falling behind when compared to women of the same age group. 

 As far as clinics are concerned, about 10 to 12 temporary clinics will be added to the mass vaccination clinics so that vaccination can be easily available to everyone so that 90% of our population is vaccinated.  

 While things are going well with the administration of the second dose and Dr. Paul is optimistic that we can reach a 75% rate for the second dose by the end of the week, he is not sure if we can move to step 3 right away.