The number of COVID-19 cases have hit record highs in January thanks to the Omicron variant of the virus, which is said to be relatively more mild compared to past variants but can infect even vaccinated people.
Governments and public health officials have urged Canadians to get a third mRNA vaccine to protect them against the most serious effects of the virus, which has still sent people to the hospital in large numbers and threatened to overrun Canadian health systems.
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Pfizer says 3rd vaccine dose raises protection against Omicron variant – Dec 8, 2021
The booster can also stave off the effects of waning immunity from the first two shots, which appear to offer less protection against contracting the virus over time.
About 41 per cent of Canadians over the age of 18 have opted for a COVID-19 booster as of Jan. 15, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada, but the survey suggests 73 per cent of respondents intend to get three shots.
At the same time, less than 10 per cent of adults have eschewed vaccination against the virus altogether.
Of those with two doses who say they don’t want a third, 25.5 per cent said they don’t believe a booster would work, and 14 per cent said they felt that two shots are enough.
Those reasons are very different from the ones given my people who have opted to remain completely unvaccinated, who since the beginning of the vaccine rollout least year have typically said they’re more afraid of vaccine side-effects than the virus itself, Jedwab said.
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In this latest poll, the unvaccinated were six times more worried about vaccine side-effects than getting COVID-19.
“That’s not what people who are double-vaccinated are saying and it’s not any meaningful degree,” he said.
Only eight per cent of double-vaxxed people reported being concerned about the side-effects of the booster.
“They’re more concerned with its effectiveness. So it will be up to policy-makers to remind people about the effectiveness.”
© 2022 The Canadian Press
