Vaccinated Manitobans small percentage of cases, experience reduced symptoms: Roussin

(AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

WINNIPEG -

Manitoba's top doctor says the majority of the people who were admitted into hospital and intensive care units with COVID-19 in June were unvaccinated.

At a news conference Monday afternoon, Dr. Brent Roussin, the chief provincial public health officer, was quick to tout the benefits of getting vaccinated.

"What see is the vast majority of severe cases of COVID-19 are preventable," he said. "We know that if people are vaccinated and still come down with COVID, they are much less likely to have severe symptoms, and they are less likely to be highly transmissible."

According to Roussin, there were 412 COVID-19 hospital admissions in June. Of those admissions, he said 74 per cent had not received any vaccine dose and 22 per cent had one dose but had tested positive for COVID-19 within two weeks of receiving it.

During that same time, 90 people were admitted into the ICU. Roussin said of those admissions, 77 per cent had no vaccine dose, and three per cent had one dose, but had also tested positive for COVID-19 within two weeks of receiving that dose.

"We don't bring this up to blame or to shame anyone," Roussin said. "We are here showing the power of vaccine. That we see very few people being admitted to hospital even after a single dose, but especially after two doses."

Using anecdotal evidence, Roussin said many vaccinated individuals are experiencing reduced symptoms.

"We are seeing that shift to some milder illness, especially in individuals that are vaccinated," said Roussin. "We are seeing many cases of very mild respiratory virus symptoms; simply runny nose, a sore throat."

Roussin noted there is still some strain on the health care system, and severe cases are still happening in the province.

"We still see some strain in our health care system, but we see that improving over time with our lower case counts as well as the uptake of the vaccine. If we continue to get vaccinated at the rate, I do see us continuing with our plans to reopen and get that post-pandemic Manitoba,"

Moving forward, Roussin said the province has to work harder to get the remaining Manitobans vaccinated.

"You're going to see, as expected, as we get to the really high vaccine uptake, then each percentage point after that is going to be more difficult because you're going to have people who have declined up until now. But we are reaching people and we are going to continue to reach out, continue to show the benefit of the vaccine and really convince people that it's our way to a post-pandemic Manitoba.

So far, 76.3 per cent of eligible Manitobans aged 12 and up have had their first dose of the vaccine and 57.2 per cent have received both doses for a total of 1,571,112 doses administered in Manitoba.