Thread by @jvipondmd

Time for a little thread on the pending removal of Alberta's (and SK, and maybe ON etc) Vaxx Passport (Orwellianly known as the Restrictions Exemption Program) #REPnotRIP. 1/

The passport serves three purposes: 1) decrease transmission rates in the population (it is an important layer of swiss cheese). 2/

2) Incentivize unvaxxed to get the jab (worked great when introduced by AB in September). 3/ theglobeandmail.com/canada/article…

3) Improve safety in restaurants, so that people are more comfortable eating indoors, helping the restaurant industry (and protecting their staff). 4/ dailyhive.com/calgary/albert…

Now, they are going. the pretext for this is with Omicron, full vaccinations (2 vaxxs) no longer protect against transmission, so therefore: scrapped. They aren't wrong, we know that Omicron is relatively vaccine evasive, especially to two vaccines. 5/ news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/…

(worth noting altho not great for transmission, 2 does does substantiallly improve illness outcomes). 5a/

Ay, but there's the rub. 2 vaccines does not equal fully immunized. People need the 3rd dose to substantially decrease risk of transmission. (1/3 less like to have symptomatic disease than unvaxxed). 6/ jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/…

So what's a province to do? I think the analogy is like seatbelts. Back in the 50s and 60s lap belts were in most cars. Better than nothing, but still resulted in substantial damage (back fractures, face hitting steering wheel, etc). 7/

Not perfect. But we didn't scrap the seatbelt, we improved it, adding a shoulder belt. Ahhh safety. 8/

So, in my mind, with an inadequate vaxx passport, the solution is, not to scrap it, but improve it. Bring on that 3rd vaxx. Hits all three objectives: 1) decr transmission 2) improve 3rd dose uptake (currently at 42.8% for >18 y.o. in AB). 3) improves safety in restaurants 9/

Think I'm crazy? Won't ever happen? Maybe not in AB. But I'm not crazy. The smart policymakers are considering it. fin/ montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-to-requ…