Thread by @ScottBilleck

MB COVID UPDATE JULY 7:
- 71 new
- 56,586 total
- 990 active
- 1,154 deaths
- 147 hosp., 33 ICU
- 54,442 rcv
- 839,643 tst
- 1,639 YDA
- TP 5.6%

VOC UPDATE:

Total: 15,797 (25 new)
Active: 594
Alpha - 6,968
B.1.351 - 73
Gamma - 214
Delta - 357
Uncat - 8,160
Deaths - 160

New cases:

Winnipeg - 32
Interlake-Eastern - 19
Southern - 12
Prairie Mountain - 4
Northern - 4

New deaths:

M30s - Interlake-Eastern (Unspecified VOC)
M50s - Winnipeg (Alpha)

Winnipeg TP rate is 5.5%

Now five patients in Ontario ICUs, down one after one was repatriated on Tuesday.

Dr. Joss Reimer and Johanu Botha set to speak today on vaccine things.

Reimer begins by addressed those who are vaccine hesitant.

Top reasons for hesitancy included how quickly the vaccine was developed and how quickly it was approved.

Reimer says scientists developing the vaccine did not start from scratch. Hundreds of coronaviruses have come before. It took two weeks to map entire genome of the virus and told them what vaccine would be needed.

There were a large pool of vaccines being developed, leading to more options, including finding vaccines that worked and putting those that didn't to the side.

Government and private funding helped alleviate the financial concerns (and commitment) from companies in terms of fallout if vaccines failed.

Reimer said in some cases, the were able to take a flu vaccine (mRNA) already in development by Moderna and tweak it for COVID.

In terms of human trials for mRNA vaccines, which are newer, have been underway since 2011.

Reimer said they didn't have to wait long to find people who were exposed to a certain virus this time. It was happening regularly.

For others, such as mumps, it's much slower.

Reimer says the standard three trial phases were performed for COVID vaccine, like any other.

Vaccine reviews were done in real time and were prioritized, jumping to the front of the queue.

Each phase was reviewed as soon as they were completed as Health Canada prioritized it.

"The science behind these vaccines is solid. It is built on technology that we know and understand," Reimer says.

Reimer says they may be able to look back on this pandemic and start asking why other vaccine development takes so long.

(she sort of answered that earlier, suggesting that exposure for other ailments is often lower)

Reimer now addressing the issues put forth by Dr. Marcia Anderson earlier this week that showed BIPOC (aside from First Nations) were delayed when becoming eligible for vaccination.

Reimer says they were able to begin doing targeted neighbourhood approach based on the report.

18,532 doses administered on Tuesday.

Vaccine dashboard has yet to update the uptake percentages for first and second doses.

Botha says they are at a new place in their vaccine rollout that they haven't been:

Supply now exceeds demand.

The reality, Botha says, is they have a vaccine dose for you and they have it now.

Hitting step 3 will be contingent on Manitobans getting the first dose available to them.

Effective today, people can request vaccine card over the phone at the vaccine call centre:

1-844-626-8222

On why First Nations were prioritized but not other BIPOC communities, Reimer says First Nations were well over-represented, according to the data.

Age-based approach was also best way to reach high-risk folks fastest, and low supply meant difficult decisions.

Botha said vaccine record issues is now under 1%, down from 3% from last week.

Record corrections are being addressed in a week, usually.

Impacts of incentives?

Botha says it's hard to peg, but first-dose almost halted and then picked back up again. Doesn't speak to which incentives were better than others.

Botha on if he thinks mid-August forecast will be achieved (80%/50%).

Says they are now in a space where capacity is there and now it depends on demand (how fast and how many MBs go get their first dose).

Says they are on track to beat that target, but hesitant lock in day.

Vaccines for ages 5-11 could begin see approvals as early as September. Trials still underway. Far from guaranteed.

For Moderna getting approved for 12-17, its now trending toward next week, but this is tentative.

Expiry for doses on hand is not a concern. Most expire at the end of the year or beyond that, Botha said.

Botha says they are looking at slowly phasing out larger supersites. Won't see impacts of that until mid-august at the earliest.

Who did they need approval from for neighbourhood targeted approach?

Government, Reimer says.

When is android version coming for immunization verification app?

Said its a bigger question that transcends his role.

Reimer says the Android app is available on Google Play.

At one point, it was taken off. Not sure if it's back on. (I have an iPhone)

Vaccine data now updated:

First-dose uptake: 75.3%
Second-dose uptake: 52.8%

Why doesn't province automatically issue cards?

Botha says its new and there is time to switch to that eventually.

(These cards are going to be useless at some point.)

presser over.