Get Vaccinated | Alberta.ca – The Financial Empowerment Initiative

Evidence is clear: Getting vaccinated is the best way to protect yourself, your loved ones, and your community.

It is much safer to get vaccinated than it is to get infected. Vaccines make our immune systems stronger by building antibodies to help prevent and fight off disease. Because COVID-19 is a new virus, no one has pre-existing immunity.

Delaying or refusing vaccination carries serious risks. Albertans who are not fully vaccinated account for 80% of patients in hospital and 90% of patients in ICU with COVID-19. It may also extend the need for public health measures to continue.

Protecting yourself protects those around you. It is more difficult for the virus to spread from person to person. The more of us who get vaccinated the safer all of us will be.

All approved vaccines are researched until proven safe

Thanks to worldwide collaboration, COVID-19 vaccines were developed quickly without compromising safety by building on decades of research on these vaccine technologies. Every approved vaccine has met Health Canada’s strict standards for safety, quality and effectiveness.

Getting vaccinated protects against variants

The vaccines are effective against all variants. One dose is 57% effective against the Delta variant (B.1.617) and 2 doses is 85% effective. Getting vaccinated reduces the spread of variants. It does not cause worse variants.

Even the young and healthy should get vaccinated

Anyone can get seriously ill from COVID-19 and end up in the hospital or worse. Thousands of Albertans have died, including many young, previously healthy people. Also, when the young and healthy are immunized it keeps everyone in the community safer because the virus has fewer opportunities to spread.

It takes time to build immunity

Your body needs time to build its defenses – at least 2 weeks after the first dose. During that time, you are not yet protected from COVID-19. Even after getting both doses, you need to continue following public health guidelines to prevent the spread.

If you’ve had COVID-19, you should still get vaccinated

Evidence suggests immunity after infection may not last very long or be as effective against variants. Getting vaccinated will strengthen your immunity to give you the best protection.

Getting vaccinated won’t hurt your paycheque

COVID-19 vaccines are free in Alberta. Employees are also entitled to take up to 3 hours of paid leave for each vaccination appointment under the Employment Standards Code.

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