Almost 20 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers fully vaccinated; province reports no new cases of COVID-19 Monday
New Brunswick's COVID-19 dashboard refreshed Monday morning, showing 19.2 per cent of people over 12 in the province are fully vaccinated.
Pharmacies and health authority clinics are busy – and the province's online booking system had a lineup 10,000 people long Monday afternoon.
The vaccine supply is there too – with 185,000 doses of Pfizer and Moderna expected by week's end.
But is it enough to get 75 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers fully vaccinated by New Brunswick Day on Aug. 2?
"It will be tough," says Dr. Jeff Steeves, president of the N.B. Medical Society. "We have to go from 19.2 per cent today, to 75 per cent which is just under 400,000 people. And if you do the math on the 41 days left, we'd have to provide about 9,400 a day, every day, to get to that point."
He says over the weekend, about 2,800 second doses/day were administered. But last week also saw a high of almost 12,000 administered in one day.
"We may not make Aug. 2 but it probably won't be that far after that. And I wouldn't take that as not a victory if we don't make that arbitrary date, we certainly should make Sept. 1 which was the originally thinking a few months ago," he said.
Epidemiologist Kevin Wilson says he doesn't believe convincing people to get their second dose will be as difficult as encouraging more to get their first.
"Probably the hardest part of the vaccine rollout is going to be actually getting first doses to kind of that back 20 per cent of the eligible population," he said. "The groups that are sort of like, not interested at all or more likely they're just on the fence or procrastinating."
As of Monday, 76.4 per cent of N.B. residents over 12 have their first dose of the vaccine.
NO NEW CASES REPORTED MONDAY
Public Health reporting there are no new cases of COVID-19 in New Brunswick on Monday.
Two people have recovered since Sunday so the number of active cases drops to 54.
Five people are hospitalized, including two who are in intensive care.
Public Health conducted 407 tests on Sunday, raising the total since the pandemic began to 357,341.
There have been 45 deaths in New Brunswick since the pandemic began.
MORE VISITORS ALLOWED AT LONG-TERM CARE FACILITIES
The number of visitors allowed at long-term care facilities increased to 50 per cent capacity on Monday.
"All COVID-19 safety measures remain in place in facilities, and it is important to continue to follow them to protect vulnerable residents," Public Health wrote in a news release. "Visitors will be provided a medical mask upon entering, they will actively be screened, their contact information will be collected, and they will need to maintain physical distancing during their visit."
Visitors from outside New Brunswick who are allowed in the province under the mandatory order are permitted to enter nursing homes and adult residential facilities, but must follow the same protocols.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.