Local public health expert responds to region’s first Omicron cases
Posted Dec 14, 2021 05:12:00 PM.
Confirmation Monday of the first cases of the Omicron variant in Waterloo Region comes as no surprise to a local public health expert.
While on the Mike Farwell Show on CityNews 570 on Tuesday, Zahid Butt, assistant professor at the school of public health and health systems at the University of Waterloo said it was inevitable.
Butt said this happened because of inequitable vaccine distribution around the world.
“If you have a lesser vaccination rate in any area … it acts as a source of producing more variants and that's what we are see now. You have these new variants coming up and you have to think about whether the current vaccines can protect it or not,” he said.
Butt said vaccines should be thought of as a tool to be used along with other public health guidelines we're familiar with like hand washing and social distancing.
He's urging people to limit the size of gatherings during the holidays because the Omicron variant is three times more transmissible than the Delta variant.
“So you have to be very careful with this. If you're not, then what will happen is that ultimately, it will replace the Delta variant, and then it spreads faster within a population. So, you will end up with a lot more cases in the winter than we are seeing now,” Butt explained.
He said if population transmission isn't controlled, hospitalizations and ICU admissions will go up.
Butt said huge concerts and sports events will also likely need to be stopped, and public health will need to act fast to really restrict case numbers.
He wants to see more people vaccinated as soon as possible and nations provide vaccines to developing countries.
Butt said that Canadian officials can do both at the same time.
“You have enough supply to vaccinate your population also to send vaccines to other countries, but it's not just Canada. There should be other countries helping the COVAX initiative, helping distribute the vaccine to the rest of the world,” he said.
Butt said this will be a level of immunization globally that can help control the spread of COVID-19 so that life can get back to normal.
