Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Health says that new cases of COVID-19, including those with serious outcomes, are overwhelmingly among unvaccinated people.
The Ministry says according to information collected over July, 90.6 per cent of people who got COVID-19 were either unvaccinated or only partially vaccinated. Ninety-five per cent of ICU admissions were unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, and 100 per cent of deaths were unvaccinated or less than three weeks from their first dose, they add.
Breaking down these stats further, of the 1,220 new cases of COVID-19 the province saw in July, 921 of them were in people not vaccinated or within three weeks of their first dose. One hundred eighty-four cases were in people only partially vaccinated with one dose, and 112 cases were in those who are fully vaccinated.
Looking at hospitalizations, of the 83 people hospitalized with COVID-19, 66 were unvaccinated or less than three weeks off from their first vaccination, ten had only one dose and seven people were fully vaccinated.
Twenty people were brought to the ICU, 17 were unvaccinated or not three weeks out from their first dose. Two people in the ICU were partially vaccinated and one person was fully vaccinated. In terms of deaths, the province says that four people died last month, all of whom were unvaccinated or less than three weeks out from their first dose.
The Ministry adds that a third of all July’s new COVID-19 cases were in those 19 and under, with twenty per cent being those under 12, who do not have a vaccine Health Canada approved for them.
Children can contract, transmit and become ill with COVID-19 though the risk for serious health outcomes is lower than older populations, and when someone older is fully vaccinated, all activities with children will be considered lower risk.
Residents are called upon to get vaccinated if they can, in order to protect these populations, as viruses like COVID-19 are opportunistic and will spread to and among under- and unvaccinated populations, the province notes.
People can read all vaccination and breakthrough data reports on the Saskatchewan website, under the COVID-19 vaccination information.