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COVID-19 vaccine needed to inject 'normal' back into our lives: Dr. Yaffe

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Ontarians aren’t likely to see a return of their normal routines until there’s a COVID-19 vaccine, Associate Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Barbara Yaffe says.

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“I do think that we’re going to have to have a safe and effective vaccine and get it out to people before things go back to ‘normal,'” Yaffe told the Toronto Sun. “And when that will be I don’t know.”

Meanwhile, the province’s top public health officials are hoping residents will take advantage of another shot — the flu vaccine.

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The measure will reduce significantly the chance of contracting influenza this fall, Yaffe said, noting contracting both the flu and COVID-19 in one season would be “very bad.”

Just because people are following all the usual public health measures to prevent COVID-19 doesn’t mean they won’t come down with the flu, she said.

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“In fact, I have had friends say that to me. To be honest, those friends never got the flu shot before. It tends to be — and this is generalizing — people who didn’t get the flu shot are looking for all sorts of reasons not to get it again,” Yaffe said. “That’s my own personal opinion.”

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Fewer people with the flu also eases pressure on COVID-19 testing sites — as the two illnesses share some symptoms — and public health and hospital resources, Yaffe said.

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The Doug Ford government announced last week it would expand this fall’s flu vaccine program as the daily number of COVID-19 cases continue to top 400.

Ontario reported 435 new cases Saturday, 64% in individuals under the age of 40 years old.

Provincial health officials have yet to definitely determine whether Ontario is experiencing a large second wave of the coronavirus or what could be a series of smaller waves.

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It’s not known whether COVID-19 will come in a third wave as was the case in the deadly 1918 flu pandemic, Yaffe said.

“It’s a new infection. It’s evolving,” she said. “We’re learning as we go.”

For instance, although symptoms of the coronavirus are generally milder in younger people, the long-term health implications are not known, she said.

“There has been one death, I believe, in Quebec of a 19-year-old who had been previously healthy,” she said. “And there are people who end up with chronic symptoms.”

“It’s a new infection, we don’t know, and obviously it’s better not to get it if you can prevent it,” Yaffe added.

aartuso@postmedia.com

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