With summer holidays looming and Canada on the downside of the latest Omicron wave, federal officials are dropping vaccine mandates for domestic travel, loosening another COVID-19 protection that’s been with us for almost a year. “Vaccine mandates had a really important role earlier in the pandemic,” said Dr. Fahad Razak, scientific director of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table. Dr. Zain Chagla, an associate professor at McMaster University and an infectious diseases physician, said the same logic that was used to justify lifting vaccine mandates in provinces for indoor venues such as restaurants, bars and gyms applies. “​​We know two doses of a vaccine really does wane in protection against symptomatic COVID-19, even three doses of vaccine over time has a waning effect,” he said. There may be a new version of the virus for which vaccine protection is necessary, he said.

Source: thestar June 15, 2022 01:01 UTC