People have stepped up to build COVID-19 'vaccine wall' but it remains incomplete: Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang

Waterloo region's medical officer of health says she's impressed by the number of people in the community who have stepped up to get their COVID-19 vaccine in recent weeks.

"Our community has really stepped up to help us quickly build ourvaccine wall," Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang said Friday during a regular media briefing.

But she also warned: "The wall is incomplete."

Wang said around the world, there have beensurges of the delta variant, also known as the B1617 variant first detected in India. It has led to some areas reinstating mask mandates and lockdown measures.

"We cannot let up now. The risk of delta will increase as we reopen our economy and society. Therefore, we need to protect ourselves," she said.

Wang encouraged people who have not received any doses to get the first dose as soon as possible. For people with appointments for second doses that go into September or October, she urged people to move the date up.

She said people can still get both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine by the end of summer if they haven't received any doses yet, and she encouraged people to do so.

Wang also listed three things people can do to curb the spread of the virus this summer:

• Avoid closed spaces and crowded places.
• Go outdoors for permitted activities.
• When indoors, ensure the space is well ventilated, wear a mask and physically distance from others.

"We continue to make progress in slowing the spread of COVID-19," she said."We may be feeling done with the pandemic but the pandemic is not done with us."

16 new cases

There were 16new cases of COVID-19 reported by public health on Friday. One death of a person with the virus was also reported, a woman in her 70s. That brought the total number of COVID-related deaths in the region to 282.

There were 143 active cases.

The reporting for hospitals changed on the region's dashboard. It now shows 13 people infectious with COVID-19 are in the region's three hospitals. As well, 16 people are in the hospitals' intensive care units, and that includes patients who are both infectious and who are no longer infectious, but still require specialized care.

There were 11 active outbreaks:

• Workplaces: Five.
• Child care/summer camp: Three.
• Hospitals: Two.
• Congregate setting: One.

62.8%fully vaccinated

There were 62.82 per cent of people in the region aged 12 and up who have been fully vaccinated and 81per cent have received their first dose.

Shirley Hilton, deputy chief of the Waterloo Regional Police Service and head of the region's vaccine distribution task force, said people can now drop into any regionally run clinic to get their first or second dose.

"We are so pleased we are at this stage of the vaccine rollout," she said.

Peel region and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health have announced they will be winding down mass vaccination clinics in the coming weeks. Hilton said the plan is to eventually do that, but the task force wants to see what impact the walk-in vaccinations may have at the clinic sites before making plans to shut them down or reduce hours.

"We will be looking at scaling back our clinics and then reenergizing some of our mobile availability," she said, noting more information may be available next week.

No doses wasted

Hilton also responded to reports earlier this week that some doses of Moderna could expire in the fridges of pharmacies across the region.

She said the region's supply of Moderna is frozen, so it can be held onto longer. The Moderna doses in pharmacies have been thawed and Hilton says the region is now working with pharmacists to see if those doses could be used at regional clinics so they don't go to waste.

As well, Fauzia Baig, the region'sequity and anti-racism advisor, gave an update on the vaccination bus, which has been going to high-risk neighbourhoods.

"The success of the bus isn't about numbers, it's about reducing barriers," Baig said, noting the regionwill need to return to some neighbourhoods to reach everyone.

In the two stops made this week, Baig said more than 50 people were vaccinated at one stop, and other stopsaw between 15 and 20 people vaccinated.

"From our perspective, both of those events were successful," she said.