Is herd immunity against COVID-19 still possible in Ontario?
In the summer of 2021, Ontario’s top doctor said the province could achieve herd immunity against COVID-19 when about 90 per cent of the eligible population was fully vaccinated.
More than six months later, about 89 per cent of residents over the age of 12 have received both doses of a vaccine—but with a new variant rapidly spreading through the population, does this matter?
On this week’s episode of Life Unmasked, the team asks a panel of experts about whether herd immunity is still possible and what role natural immunity will play in ending the pandemic.
During the panel, Professor of Immunology with the University of Toronto Tania Watts, Infectious Disease and Infection Control Physician Dr. Alon Vaisman and bio-ethicist Kerry Bowman also discuss whether or not the idea of immunity should be approached from a global perspective rather than a local one.
Herd immunity occurs when a large group of people within a community become immune to a virus, preventing it from spreading. This can happen through vaccination and natural infection.
This chart describes how herd immunity works within a community. (https://www.nih.gov/)
When Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore said that a 90 per cent vaccination rate in the province could lead to herd immunity in the population, it was met with a resounding optimism. Many people saw this as a possible end to the pandemic and its accompanying economic restrictions.
"Instead of having waves that we're going to have to tolerate, we'll have small outbreaks that we’ll learn to live with," Moore said in August.
"(Those waves) will have a smaller impact on the health-care system and allow us to start to pull away some of the public health measures. That could happen as early as six to eight months from now."
However, those comments were made in relation to the Delta variant, which wasn’t as contagious as the Omicron variant.
International disease experts have since said that herd immunity may be unlikely due to the new variants spreading across the globe. However, they also say that vaccination will make the illness much less severe, meaning that communities should be able to live with it and that, eventually, COVID-19 will become endemic.
Life Unmasked airs first on the iHeart app every Tuesday morning before becoming available on other streaming platforms. If you have questions for the podcast team, or an idea for an episode, please email lifeunmasked@bellmedia.ca.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
NEW Is there a cost to convenience? Canada approves new cancer immunotherapy treatment
A new cancer treatment recently approved in Canada promises to cut treatment time down to just minutes, but experts have differing opinions on whether it's what's best for patients.
Air Canada walks back new seat selection policy change after backlash
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
Canada's new dental program offering hope of free care to millions but many dentists aren't signed up
A new Canadian dental care program is offering the hope of free care to millions, but while 1.7 million people have signed up for the plan, only about 5,000 dentists have done the same.
Province boots mayor and council in small northern Ont. town out of office
An ongoing municipal strike, court battles and revolt by half of council has prompted the province to oust the mayor and council in Black River-Matheson.
King Charles III returns to public duties with a trip to a cancer charity
King Charles III will return to public duties on Tuesday when he visits a cancer treatment charity, beginning his carefully managed comeback after the monarch’s own cancer diagnosis sidelined him for three months.
NDP says Ottawa's new grocery task force isn't living up to government promises
The federal government says the task force it created to monitor and investigate grocery retailers' practices has not conducted any probes and doesn't have a mandate to take enforcement action.
A group of Toronto tenants have been on a rent strike for a year and say there's no resolution in sight
Dozens of tenants in Toronto's Thorncliffe Park area have now been withholding their rent for one year, and it’s unclear when the dispute will end.
Archeologists search for remnants of Halifax's 250-year-old wall that surrounded the city
Archeologist Jonathan Fowler is using ground-penetrating radar to search for historic evidence of the massive wall that surrounded Halifax more than 250 years ago.
Kazakhstan arrests ex-interior minister in connection with unrest that left 238 dead
Authorities in Kazakhstan arrested a former interior minister on Tuesday, in connection with deadly police crackdown on unrest that gripped the country in 2022, Kazakh news media reported.