CALGARY — An outbreak of the Delta COVID-19 variant at Calgary’s Foothills Medical Centre is growing, with fully vaccinated people testing positive, leading some medical experts to say this is proof vaccinations alone aren’t the solution to getting us out of the pandemic.

“We did see in one of the outbreaks that there were ten individuals who had completed their second dose, unfortunately, ended up becoming infected. What we’re monitoring now is whether or not they had, as we would expect, a milder course of illness,” said Dr. Deena Hinshaw.

While this might raise concerns about the vaccine efficacy, Alberta’s premier is confident that Canada is in a better position to fight the Delta variant as compared to the United Kingdom.

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“We already have better protection right across the age factor,” said Kenney. “In fact, we have better first dose coverage than the United Kingdom, they are at 62 per cent and we are closing in on 68 per cent here in Alberta. We have to keep an eye on this but I am confident as is Dr. Hinshaw with the vaccination rollout we will be able to prevent the negative outcomes from the Delta variant.”

Health experts from the UK caution, learning from their experience, Canada needs to speed up the vaccine rollout as developing immunity from them takes time.

“Focus on aggressive vaccination programs, discussions are going on if children should be vaccinated, that should be voluntary. There is a bit of lag, it essentially takes two to three months for vaccinations to really work. In the beginning, you are doing very well in the vaccine race but if you are not fast enough, the virus gets an advantage,” said Francois Balloux, a Director of Genetics, Evolution & Environment at University College London.

Yet other researchers, who continue to study the COVID-19 data by Alberta Health Services say, vaccines alone cannot control the spread of the Delta variant.

“Vaccinations are amazing tools that act very strongly, when it’s added to other public health measures then we can win with Delta, but with vaccines alone, we won’t win with Delta. We need everything and reduce cases as much as possible, as quickly as possible, and it’s doable,” said Dr. Gosia Gasperowicz, a COVID-19 researcher & biologist at the University of Calgary.

Dr. Gasperowicz believes, instead of re-opening Alberta, we need to go back to Stage Zero. As even without Stampede or other potential superspreader events, the current graph of Delta variant cases indicates that we are heading towards the fourth wave.

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