Niagara Health Head of Infectious Diseases says Delta variant targeting unvaccinated

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Published September 7, 2021 at 3:48 pm

It’s like Niagara’s Health Head of Infectious Diseases hopes if he beats the drum hard enough, people will finally hear the music.

Dr. Karim Ali once again appealed to the unvaccinated in the Niagara Region, pointing out that the Delta variant of COVID-19 is targeting them almost exclusively.

“(The) Delta variant is sneaky and has an uncanny ability to find unvaccinated pockets,” said Ali today (September 7).

“(We) keep hearing from admitted patients and their families that they wish they would have gotten the vaccines. Let’s not get to that point.”

As always, he said, the best way was to get the vaccines as soon as possible. “The disease burden in unvaccinated people is high. This is preventable. Remember as we head into respiratory virus season, maintaining capacity will be crucial.”

He said while he has faith in Niagara Health’s ICUs, it was also important that catching COVID-19 can cause long-range health even if it doesn’t kill you.

“Remember it’s not about deaths. Critical illness due to this changes people forever. Get the vaccines for you and your loved ones around you.”

Below are the latest figures from Ontario on the vaccination statuses of those in the ICUs across the province.

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