Medical Officer of Health warns unvaccinated in Mississauga and Brampton will face higher risk of complications when restrictions end
Published November 10, 2021 at 12:40 pm
Dr. Lawrence Loh, Medical Officer of Health for the Region of Peel, is warning anti-vaxxers that they could face increased risk of complications associated with COVID-19 come the spring.
Currently, the Province has set March 28 as the tentative date when all pandemic-related restrictions could end, including masks.
There is concern that this could embolden anti-vaxxers to simply wait for restrictions to end, rather than get vaccinated, as they now have a date for when things will return to normal.
However, Dr. Loh warns that once these restrictions end, those who have not been vaccinated face an increased risk of not only contracting the virus, but suffering adverse effects, including possible death, because of it.
“I think the message anti-vaxxers should be taking is not ‘wait it out,’ but that at some point the guard rails are going to come off,” he said during a press conference on Wednesday (November 10).
Dr. Loh specified that the restrictions currently in place protect those who are unvaccinated by reducing their exposure to the virus.
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“These people are currently being protected by measures, such as masking vaccine certificates and the fact that many other people in the community have done their part to get vaccinated to reduce the risk of spread and the overall transmission in our community,” he said.
However, when they end, the unvaccinated will face an increased risk of suffering adverse effects from the virus if they are exposed to it, compared to those who have been vaccinated.
“The guard rails are going to come off at some point, and when they do, those who remain unvaccinated will face an increased risk of severe and fatal outcomes,” he said. “It is in the best interest of those who remain unvaccinated to get two doses of a vaccine as soon as possible.”
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