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‘Vaxxed to the max’: Feds launch Ask an Expert campaign to encourage COVID shots

Survey shows that confidence in vaccines has risen this spring
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A health-care worker holds up a sign signalling she needs more COVID-19 vaccines at the ‘hockey hub’ mass vaccination facility at the CAA Centre during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brampton, Ont., on Friday, June 4, 2021. This NHL-sized hockey rink is one of CanadaÕs largest vaccination centres. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

The federal government has launched a new “ask an expert” campaign to encourage more people to get vaccinated in Canada.

As of Tuesday (June 15), federal officials said that just over 74 per cent of people ages 12 and up were vaccinated with at least one dose.

Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam said that campaign was aimed at getting Canadian “vaxxed to the max.”

Questions in the “Ask an Expert” campaign so far include “How do we know the COVID-19 vaccines are safe?” answered by Dr. Upton Allen, Bastable-Potts Chair for Infectious Disease Research, Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and “How was it possible to develop safe COVID-19 vaccines so quickly?” answered by Dr. Supriya Sharma, chief medical advisor at Health Canada.

According to a Leger study, the vast majority of Canadians said they would get their vaccine. A total of 86 per cent said they had either already gotten a vaccine or intent to get it – an increase of six per cent since April.

Among those who had already gotten their first shot, 84 per cent said they would “certainly” get their second dose, while five per cent said they “probably” would.

READ MORE: Horgan hints U.S. border could open this summer, but ‘uncomfortable’ with B.C. vaccine passports


@katslepian

katya.slepian@bpdigital.ca

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