I feel as though there has been some progress since the last time I wrote a COVID update.

The great news is that I have now had both vaccines so that is out of the way for the time being. I had the AstraZeneca vaccine for the first and second dose. At the time of my second dose, the Canadian government said I could have one of the other vaccines if I wanted, however, I didn’t feel as though I wanted to mix and match plus the pharmacy called for AZ before I could book for the others. I was sick after the first vaccine but did ok after the second one.

Two days after the Canadian government then recommended those who had AstraZeneca dose one to receive one of the others for dose two. There were reports from the NHS that Pfizer performed better with dose one and two, compared with AZ, against the Delta (Indian) variant, by about 5%. I’m not too worried about that though but will continue to adhere to the same protocols as if I haven’t had either vaccine ie wear a mask, social distance, continue to wash hands etc.

We live in one of the areas where the uptake in vaccines has been low, according to the last report I saw a couple of weeks ago. I hope they have managed to turn this around. The local health authority held a vaccine marathon event and I hear that has been popular and from what I understand they had to tempt people with prizes.  This irks me slightly as people should be vaccinating from their own and the common good of society rather than wait for prizes.

Our pandemic routine has been pretty much the same as it has been over the past year or so. Stay at home. Walk within our community. Go out shopping once per week. Yesterday we went to Ikea, it stressed me out a bit since very few were adhering to the rules, often not even the sales staff, so it is slightly disappointing. So now, we have to go out assuming no one is going to behave like decent human beings and try to protect ourselves as much as we can.

I’m pleased to see that the number of new cases and deaths are declining in British Columbia, however, I don’t think it’s enough. I think people can do better. Any new infection can result in a fatality or have a rare chance of being left with a long term condition. Today the government accounts 1 million people have been fully vaccinated in British Columbia, which is approx 1/5 of the population, which seems like a great milestone.

There has been some talk about re-opening the border with the US, it appears they review this on a regular basis, with the current date set at 21st July. I don’t know anybody in our community that is for that, however, it would be good for business as Americans come up here for tourism and cheap prescriptions.

So, at least some good news at last which is giving me a more positive outlook but realistically I don’t expect any slant to normality until later on next year.