LONDON, ONT. —
CTV News London viewers had many questions regarding vaccines, and Medical Officer of Health Dr. Chris Mackie was able to answer most of them.
The discussion included questions like if you had a serious reaction to a flu shot, does that change your eligibility for a vaccine?
To that Mackie says, “If you’ve have a serious reaction to a flu shot, it wouldn’t necessarily mean you can’t get the COVID shot, it is something you’d want to likely talk through with your physician.”
He also spoke at length about homebound residents and what they are doing to get them vaccinated.
“There isn’t an efficient way at this point of vaccinating those who are homebound, so we are working with the LHINs (Local Health Integration Networks) who offer home and community care, as well as primary care physicians who do home care, but that isn’t available right now.”
The question that kept coming up is what does the vaccine actually do? Does it prevent the spread of the virus, or simply decrease the symptoms?
“We believe that the vaccine is likely to reduce the risk of spreading the infection as well, but we don’t know for sure, just because the studies didn’t look exactly at that. They looked primarily at preventing symptoms, hospitalizations and deaths. And that’s what the vaccines do for sure,” Mackie says.
Watch the extended video for the full answers to those questions as well as:
- What people with autoimmune deficiency and transplant recipients should do about getting a vaccine.
- Why there is no data on the effects of the vaccine on pregnant people?
- Plus more in this wide-ranging conversation.
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