Canadian border will remain closed.

[AJCts411]

I read that the snow birds may get their vaccines sooner in Florida than in Canada. It is just a discussion though.

Quite possibly the majority of the world might given the inept handling of the vaccine fiasco. Hillier slipped a few weeks after he was appointed, "most" "fall 2022" was his words and since then he has been corrected by his handlers.

 

[DannyTS]

Quite possibly the majority of the world might given the inept handling of the vaccine fiasco. Hillier slipped a few weeks after he was appointed, "most" "fall 2022" was his words and since then he has been corrected by his handlers.

One small example, pharmacies are offering help. It defies logic that they are not using all possible channels. I know, they only had few months to prepare .
Unbelievable.

Canada’s pharmacies ‘ready and willing’ to join coronavirus vaccination effort | Globalnews.ca

Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. and London Drugs Ltd. say they have had conversations with the federal and provincial governments about co-operating on vaccine distribution.

globalnews.ca

 

[pharmacistking]

One small example, pharmacies are offering help. It defies logic that they are not using all possible channels. I know, they only had few months to prepare .
Unbelievable.

Canada’s pharmacies ‘ready and willing’ to join coronavirus vaccination effort | Globalnews.ca

Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. and London Drugs Ltd. say they have had conversations with the federal and provincial governments about co-operating on vaccine distribution.

globalnews.ca

For the pharmacy part, it's mostly due to supply issues.

We have a very low dose supply for the foreseeable future. I believe when Janssen and AstraZeneca vaccines are approved somewhere in March or April our supply issue will be resolved and then Canadian pharmacist will be there to vaccinate the masses.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

Quite possibly the majority of the world might given the inept handling of the vaccine fiasco. Hillier slipped a few weeks after he was appointed, "most" "fall 2022" was his words and since then he has been corrected by his handlers.

Too many cooks “in the soup” / and they all have their own “ silo thinking “ issues.

****
maybe by the time “ the experts” get the vaccine distribution plans sorted out
Ontario will let folks go skiing and we can go to Niagara Falls and see the Christmas Light displays
turned back on.
LOL

 

[CanuckTravlr]

Too many cooks “in the soup” / and they all have their own “ silo thinking “ issues.

****
maybe by the time “ the experts” get the vaccine distribution plans sorted out
Ontario will let folks go skiing and we can go to Niagara Falls and see the Christmas Light displays
turned back on.
LOL

I wouldn't put any money down on lift tickets, nor book anything in Niagara Falls anytime soon, unless you are talking about skiing or seeing the Christmas Lights this time NEXT year. In which case, you might have a shot. I think you might see some loosening of the borders by the middle of the year, but not a full opening. Even that will depend upon a significant reduction in new cases, both abroad and here at home, and particularly in the USA. It isn't so much about what we want, as it is about what has to change.

If we do the math, we need roughly 75 million shots to give everyone in the country a double-shot of one of the vaccines. However, it will never get to 100%. If we could ideally get to around 70% inoculated, then you need over 50 million doses. If you aimed for the end of September 2021, that is in excess of 185,000 inoculations per day, seven days a week. Even if we get the pharmacists involved I suspect that will be a big order. And that is assuming they can actually get the distribution kinks worked out!!

So I'm not counting on skiing or going to Niagara Falls anytime soon!!

 

[jabberwocky]

I wouldn't put any money down on lift tickets, nor book anything in Niagara Falls anytime soon, unless you are talking about skiing or seeing the Christmas Lights this time NEXT year. In which case, you might have a shot. I think you might see some loosening of the borders by the middle of the year, but not a full opening. Even that will depend upon a significant reduction in new cases, both abroad and here at home, and particularly in the USA. It isn't so much about what we want, as it is about what has to change.

If we do the math, we need roughly 75 million shots to give everyone in the country a double-shot of one of the vaccines. However, it will never get to 100%. If we could ideally get to around 70% inoculated, then you need over 50 million doses. If you aimed for the end of September 2021, that is in excess of 185,000 inoculations per day, seven days a week. Even if we get the pharmacists involved I suspect that will be a big order. And that is assuming they can actually get the distribution kinks worked out!!

So I'm not counting on skiing or going to Niagara Falls anytime soon!!

I've moved my post to the Covid forum to prevent this thread from going off track. See my response here.

BTW: can you still walk around the Niagra Falls area? I know the museums are closed. I'm going to be flying back to Toronto tomorrow and taking my oldest kid along so my DW won't have to deal with 4 kids doing online school for the week. I figure it would make a good excursion day to take him to see the falls on the weekend.

 

[CanuckTravlr]

Pharmacies aren’t the most effective way to push vaccines out to the general population. They will have to do the mass vaccination clinics likely being staffed by nurses.

My DW was involved in the H1N1 vaccination effort during the 2009 pandemic. She said that during her 8 hour shift she would vaccinate about 45 people.

What makes those clinics work is that you have a steady flow of people coming through and they can sit in a larger area where they can be observed for 15 minutes after the jab separately from the nurse giving the injection. On site nursing home visits take much longer since the nurse typically has to move from room to give the shot, and then stay there while they wait for the 15 minute period to elapse.

185,000 people per day sounds like a lot, but even if you assume 35 people per day per nurse, that would be around 5300 staff working each day (this is a high estimate since some of the vaccines only require one dose). I also think that once we get those over age 45 vaccinated (population of 17 million in Canada) the justification for lockdowns goes away since the virus does discriminate against those of advanced age. We will probably start to see much lower hospitalization and ICU use in March.

I desperately want this to succeed. The biggest problem Canada will face is that we have been slow on procurement. We got a few small shipments for our photo-ops, but our deliveries really won’t ramp up until Q2. Consider that the US has distributed over 12 million vaccines so far (and they are behind schedule). On a per capita basis that would be equivalent to Canada sending out around 1.2 million vs. Less than 250,000 sent out so far. Israel is done an incredible job with over 8.8% of their population already having received the first dose.

On a side note, DW has put her name forward to help with the vaccination campaign here in Alberta (Alberta Health sent out a call yesterday). We will need all hands on deck to make the roll-out successful.

Lots of good commentary in your response, although I respectfully disagree with some of it. However, I won't reply further, since this then takes this topic off on a tangent (even if a relevant tangent) and becomes more a discussion about the handling of the virus here in Canada and less about the Canadian border and how long it might be closed. Obviously those are linked issues, but really should be separate threads, IMO.

If we want to have a discussion about availability and distribution of vaccines, availability of nurses, injection methodology, timelines, or whether the vaccine discriminates against the elderly (they may be more vulnerable, and co-morbidities may cause more severe outcomes, but the virus itself does not discriminate), then we risk this topic being moved to the Covid-19 forum, which I would prefer not to happen. If you want to open a thread in the Covid-19 forum, I would be happy to engage in a discussion there.

 

[jabberwocky]

Lots of good commentary in your response, although I respectfully disagree with some of it. However, I won't reply further, since this then takes this topic off on a tangent (even if a relevant tangent) and becomes more a discussion about the handling of the virus here in Canada and less about the Canadian border and how long it might be closed. Obviously those are linked issues, but really should be separate threads, IMO.

If we want to have a discussion about availability and distribution of vaccines, availability of nurses, injection methodology, timelines, or whether the vaccine discriminates against the elderly (they may be more vulnerable, and co-morbidities may cause more severe outcomes, but the virus itself does not discriminate), then we risk this topic being moved to the Covid-19 forum, which I would prefer not to happen. If you want to open a thread in the Covid-19 forum, I would be happy to engage in a discussion there.

Good point. I've created a new thread and moved my response there to keep this thread from going off-track.

 

[moonstone]

BTW: can you still walk around the Niagra Falls area? I know the museums are closed. I'm going to be flying back to Toronto tomorrow and taking my oldest kid along so my DW won't have to deal with 4 kids doing online school for the week. I figure it would make a good excursion day to take him to see the falls on the weekend.

We were there (Canadian side only, obviously) in November for our Anniversary. We did a lot of walking around at the Falls and on Clifton Hill on the first day (a Friday) but noticed many of the folks were not social distancing and not wearing masks. We decided to drive to nearby areas (Whirlpool, gardens, Niagara on The Lake) and only got out to walk around if the place wasn't crowded, which most were not. Many restaurants were open (this was before the tighter lockdown) but with limited indoor seating capacity.


~Diane

 

[moonstone]

I read that the snow birds may get their vaccines sooner in Florida than in Canada. It is just a discussion though.

I also read that, but took it to mean that American Snowbirds could get their shots in Florida, Texas or Arizona instead of waiting until they return to their home in the northern states in the spring. I don't know that the US will vaccinate Canadian tourists ahead of their own citizens, but who knows.

Our oldest DS is likely getting his vaccination in the US within a few weeks, certainly a lot faster than what he'd get it at home in Ontario. He works mainly from home for a large US based company with it's head office just outside of Nashville. His company's HR Dept. sent out an email the other day advising all employees (Canadian & American) that the company is bringing in medical personnel on a specific day (to be determined) to vaccinate all the employees at the head and main branch offices. The email specifically mentioned that the Canadian employees would be able to fly down for the shot (then return 21 or whatever, days later for the booster) if they wished. Since DH has a US work visa and is in a class of (sort of) essential workers he doesn't even need to quarantine upon arrival back in Canada. He is now wondering about the negative Covid test requirement for his return, but says he doesn't think he'd have any trouble getting one and the trouble is well worth the earlier vaccination date.


~Diane

 

[DannyTS]

I also read that, but took it to mean that American Snowbirds could get their shots in Florida, Texas or Arizona instead of waiting until they return to their home in the northern states in the spring. I don't know that the US will vaccinate Canadian tourists ahead of their own citizens, but who knows.

Our oldest DS is likely getting his vaccination in the US within a few weeks, certainly a lot faster than what he'd get it at home in Ontario. He works mainly from home for a large US based company with it's head office just outside of Nashville. His company's HR Dept. sent out an email the other day advising all employees (Canadian & American) that the company is bringing in medical personnel on a specific day (to be determined) to vaccinate all the employees at the head and main branch offices. The email specifically mentioned that the Canadian employees would be able to fly down for the shot (then return 21 or whatever, days later for the booster) if they wished. Since DH has a US work visa and is in a class of (sort of) essential workers he doesn't even need to quarantine upon arrival back in Canada. He is now wondering about the negative Covid test requirement for his return, but says he doesn't think he'd have any trouble getting one and the trouble is well worth the earlier vaccination date.


~Diane

Now it starts to make sense why they did not start the vaccination solely based on age and medical conditions, it was because they had to follow corporate and political interests. "Listen to the science" we have been told. What a bunch of nonsense.

 

[Breezy52]

Arizona now has highest covid rate in the world, Yikes!

https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2021/01/05/arizona-has-highest-rate-covid-19-in-the-world.html

 

[CanuckTravlr]

Prime Minister Trudeau announces that the Canadian border closure will again be extended to at least February 21st.

Canada-U.S. land border closure extended to Feb. 21

The COVID-19 travel restrictions in place at the Canada-U.S. land border are being extended for another month and will remain in effect until Feb. 21, 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Tuesday.

www.ctvnews.ca