MOH offers sobering COVID-19 predictions for fall and beyond

By Mike Renzella

The Haldimand Press

HALDIMAND— Interim Medical Officer of Health Dr. Alex Hukowich offered up some sobering predictions as to what the fall and winter months may look like in Haldimand Norfolk if vaccine rates don’t improve dramatically between now and then.

“In the past, we have relied on vaccines and immunization as a means of not just controlling disease outbreaks, but also eventually getting rid of the offending virus, or bacteria in some cases. We were able to eliminate smallpox from the world and have come close to eliminating measles and polio, but not quite, because the immunizations in those cases protected people from not just becoming ill, but from becoming carriers of the agent. That does not seem to be the case for the current vaccine against COVID-19,” said Hukowich.