Have you done your part?

Editor’s note: This article is part of a monthly series on healthcare provided by Leamington Area Family Health Team.

COVID-19 has changed our lives and our world. One year after the first case was detected in Canada, more than 19,000 Canadians had died from the virus – and many more experienced longterm effects of COVID-19 restrictions on the economy, education, mental well-being and other health conditions. Ensuring the community is fully vaccinated offers us a hope of ending it all.

Although illness and death are more common among the elderly and people with medical issues, COVID-19 also causes serious illness and death in young, healthy people. Vaccination can help prevent all ages from serious illness and hospitalization due to COVID-19.

We’ve already seen vaccines play an important role in reducing illness and death from infections like measles, mumps, rubella and polio. In the early 1900s, polio paralyzed thousands of children annually. But thanks to vaccination, polio has now been eliminated from the vast majority of countries around the world.

The success of vaccination relies heavily on the concept of herd immunity. Herd immunity is the idea that if enough people get immunized against a disease, they will create protection even for those who are not vaccinated.

In communities with a high percentage of people vaccinated, the virus cannot spread fast enough because it encounters too many vaccinated people, and so the majority of the population (even those not vaccinated) is protected. The key is, many of us need to be vaccinated in order for herd immunity to work.

In addition to community benefits of the vaccine, there are also benefits to the person being vaccinated. All approved vaccines are effective at preventing a person from getting COVID-19 and the related illness.

Early evidence suggests that in the uncommon circumstance where a vaccinated individual did get the virus, the vaccine likely reduces their chance of getting seriously ill from COVID-19. It may also reduce the chances of passing an infection to a loved one.

Still unsure if vaccination is right for you? Talk with your health care provider today…. do it for your community, your family and yourself.

Adapted from: Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto (an educational module for primary care).