N.B.’s focus on COVID-19 vaccines alone a ‘gigantic mistake,’ says epidemiologist – CBC
Colin Furness says unvaccinated children under 5 will be at greater risk, urges respirator mask education
Jul 15, 2022
New Brunswick’s decision to focus on COVID-19 vaccination alone in the face of rising COVID cases fuelled by the highly transmissible Omicron subvariants BA.5 and BA.4 is a “bad strategy,” according to an infection control epidemiologist.
It’s one Colin Furness predicts will fail and put children under five, who are currently unvaccinated, at greater risk.
“Every government the world over that has relied on one way to control this has failed,” said Furness, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto. “One strategy isn’t enough.”
As COVID cases rise and the coronavirus becomes more prevalent in the community, infants and preschoolers will face an increased risk of infection, he said.
“So you’ve got a lot of child illness that would be completely avoidable if we worked on lowering prevalence,” he said.
Furness was reacting to comments earlier this week by the province’s chief medical officer of health, who said a return to mandatory masking or other protective restrictions is not being considered.
