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Not only will Ontario’s vaccine passport system be staying in place longer than first proposed but it may soon require three shots to be considered fully vaccinated.
Health Minister Christine Elliott, flanked by Dr. Kieran Moore, announced the changes at a news conference at Queen’s Park on Friday.
The province had said that if conditions were right, the vaccine passport system used to gain entry to restaurants, gyms and other indoor settings could begin to be phased out as early as Jan. 17, 2022.
Obviously, Dr. Moore no longer feels conditions are right.
“We must take action to protect the progress we have made and fight against COVID-19 and reduce COVID-19 transmission,” Moore said.
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New rules will also come into effect requiring the use of the QR code version of the vaccine certificate, which can include printed versions of the QR code and the addition of medical exemptions to the code. Now, anyone claiming a medical exemption will need to get that exemption verified by their local public health unit and added to their QR code. That change will come fully into effect on Jan. 4.
During his news conference, Moore also said the province is looking at the data and may consider changing the definition of fully vaccinated from two shots to three.
“We are reviewing the definition of what will be fully eligible,” Moore said.
Also starting Jan. 4, any Ontario resident 18 and over will be able to register for their third booster dose.
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The province has rejected calls for increasing other public health measures in the face of the Omicron variant. While noting that Omicron is now registering as the virus variant in about 10% of cases in Ontario, Moore said hospital capacity is not being threatened.
“What gives me some relief is that our ICUs still have significant capacity to protect Ontarians, if necessary, that those numbers, which is a marker of severity, remained fairly steady at the 150 range,” Moore said.
Moore said he continues to monitor data from other jurisdictions dealing with larger outbreaks of Omicron, places like Denmark and South Africa, to see if there are concerns with severity of the variant placing a strain on their intensive care systems.
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Some early reports have suggested symptoms with Omicron are much milder but Moore said he will continue to wait for more data.
“The uptick in ICUs in Denmark, mortality in Denmark and in South Africa is disconcerting, and we’re trying to verify if it’s directly related to Delta as a strain and or Omicron. So that data is coming in by the hour to support decision-making,” Moore said.
While not forcing business closures or reducing capacity limits, Moore did call for Ontarians to keep their social circle small and reduce the number and size of gatherings over Christmas. It’s an odd request given that arenas holding 18,000 fans at a Leafs, Raptors or Senators game can remain open to full capacity but, when pressed, Moore said there are reasons those venues remain safe.
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“In the large venues, we’re confident in the verification process, ensuring that anyone entering those facilities is immunized, we’re confident in their ventilation in those facilities,” Moore said.
He added that over the past 20 months, cases and outbreaks have been shown to be more likely at a small social gathering than a large event.
As for school closures, Moore said he isn’t recommending that at this point and wants schools to reopen on time in January. But he said he will continue to monitor the situation.
This wasn’t the Christmas lockdown that some were hoping for and others were dreading, it was a small adjustment to the existing settings with a warning, stay tuned. This is a rapidly spreading virus variant that we still don’t know much about, things could change quickly.
LILLEY: Ontario makes small adjustments while monitoring fast-moving variant - Toronto Sun
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