Thought of the Day - August 8 2021 - By the Numbers

With Canada's vaccine rollout rapidly winding down, and our unused stockpile growing (now 13% of our total received), I figure I would do a deeper dive into the figures surrounding vaccines today.

30% of the world population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and over 15% are double vaccinated. 4.4 billion doses have been administered globally, and 40 million are now administered each day. That said, only a little over 1% of people in low-income countries have received a dose.

Here in Canada, it is looking like we might still make a 65% double vaccinated figure (that said last week 68% looked possible but the slowdown is more rapid than I predicted), leaving another 7% with a single dose, and 28% of our population unvaccinated.

However, at 65%, this will still mean we are one of the most vaccinated major countries in the world.

Here is the latest information from Health Canada concerning what vaccines Canadians are receiving.

Making the data more understandable: nearly 50% of second-vaccinated people have had two shots of Pfizer, 14% has Moderna, 1% has AstraZeneca, 17% has a combination, 22% Heath Canada has no idea.

Remember the last time we reported on it, there was a debate about what was happening for people who were vaccinated outside the country. Well, while Heath Canada was happy to add their numbers to the total, they have not recorded what nearly 5 million Canadians have received. Let's hope this is just a "glitch" between Ottawa and the provinces, not that some provinces are not bothering to record it.

And how well are the vaccines doing at preventing serious disease and death in Canada (nothing to do with stopping transmission)? There are a lot of exaggerated claims in the press. Some are based on data being compiled since vaccination started and so yes the vast majority of cases would be unvaccinated, and others are cherry-picked examples used to encourage people to get vaccinated.

However, here is a report from Ontario looking at data over the past month.

The good news seems to be if you are second-vaccinated and contract symptomatic COVID-19 (and many people will in Canada's next wave these so-called 'breakthrough cases') you are 69 percent less likely to be hospitalized and 49 percent less likely to die than those who are unvaccinated.

This week, no shout-out. Across Canada, people are enjoying the summer - while secretly hoping for the best for our next wave.

Cheers

Cliff