health experts warn there are several reasons this could be a disastrous idea. with more than a third of quebec’s total population still unprotected, a health care system on the brink of burnout and serious reservations about the level of protection a single dose provides, flying too high on the wings of one shot risks jeopardizing the hard-won freedoms announced by the quebec government on tuesday.
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also in the at-risk group is the segment of the population who will not be protected even if they’re vaccinated. studies from israel, where 56 per cent of the population have received two doses , have shown that some cancer patients, those receiving chemotherapy and organ transplant patients respond very poorly to first and even second doses, their bodies unable to produce the antibodies necessary.
at the same time, a study published in late april in the united kingdom, where 55 per cent have received one dose and 30 per cent two, showed that research participants who had received just a single dose of the pfizer-biontech vaccine, and who had not been infected with the disease before, had a far weaker immune response to the b.1.1.7 variant of the disease first detected in the u.k. than those with two doses. tests showed test subjects with one shot had 11 to 25 fewer times the levels of neutralizing antibodies against b.1.1.7 than those who had two vaccinations. “our data suggest (receiving just one dose) leaves people susceptible to variants of concern,” co-author danny altman wrote.
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the outbreak at the mega fitness gym that led to the infection of more than 600 people with the b.1.1.7 variant in quebec city and became one of the largest superspreader events in canada is an example of what can happen if guards are let down too quickly, said dr. françois marquis, chief of critical care medicine at maisonneuve-rosemont hospital.
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marquis said he thought the quebec government’s plan for a gradual reopening was sound, but warned flexibility is essential.