More COVID-19 vaccines will be arriving next week in Canada as the new variant continues to spread across the country.
Despite the new variant and Canada as a whole nearing 1,000,000 total cases, there are still people who have concerns regarding the vaccines that have been rolled out over the past months.
Tricia Klassen, owner and pharmacist at the Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy in Yorkton, said that there shouldn't be too much concern despite what people may hear.
"Overall, they seem to be very safe and very effective in preventing the more severe diseases," she stated. "There are some people that get minor side effects, and vaccine companies have to list everything that could potentially happen with the vaccine or everything that they've seen. That can be a bit scary, but when you look at the actual percentages of how many have actually had those (side effects), it's usually quite low."
It was earlier this week that Health Canada changed the vaccine label on the AstraZeneca label to add information about blood clots.
"A very low percentage of people and possibly some with conditions that predispose them are having blood clots," Klassen explained. "The other ones are typical side effects for all vaccines, which is a sore arm; some people are complaining about an upset stomach, fever, and just feeling unwell for a couple of days after which is part of the body's response to the vaccine. Very similar to other vaccines that we have available."
She noted that with information changing every day, it's hard to follow what is happening.
"There is always new information coming up that we are trying to keep on top of so that can make people a bit hesitant," she said. "Also, how fast the vaccines were developed can be a bit concerning as well, but the whole world basically poured all the resources they could into developing these vaccines and getting it done as quickly as possible."
Klassen added that though you may be hesitant about getting the vaccine, she says to consider the people around you that you want to protect.
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