Dear Residents and Families,
We remain committed to providing updates to our residents, families, and staff at AgeCare. As such, we are providing weekly updates to keep you all informed on what is happening at our communities and organization-wide.
- Vaccination Myths and Facts – Information on common myths around the COVID-19 vaccine.
- Visitation Guidelines – How to stay safe while visiting with your loved ones.
- Recreation Calendars - Staying active, intellectually stimulated, and socially connected
- The Alberta Continuing Care Association – A message about vaccinations.
- Weekly Shout-Out – Celebrate the great work and activities happening at our AgeCare communities.
We hope these weekly updates helpful. Thank you all for your continued support.
Sincerely,
AgeCare Communications
Vaccination Myths and Facts
Since the COVID-19 vaccines have been approved, the medical community worldwide has been closely monitoring and studying them as more and more people become vaccinated. As more and more Albertans are eligible to be vaccinated, we wanted to take this opportunity to debunk some common myths about the COVID-19 Vaccines.
MYTH: The COVID-19 vaccine can make you sick with COVID-19
FACT: None of the approved vaccines (or vaccines in development) contain the live COVID-19 virus.
No live virus means you cannot get COVID-19 from the vaccine. You may have heard of people getting COVID-19 after receiving the vaccine. That is likely because of the window the vaccine needs to become effective. You can still get COVID-19 if you are exposed within two weeks of your vaccination. As with most vaccines, the COVID-19 vaccine is not 100%, and you can still be infected even if you are fully vaccinated. However, current data suggests the risk of serious illness or death is significantly reduced in vaccinated people.
MYTH: The vaccine was developed too quickly – the side effects are still unknown.
FACT: All COVID-19 Vaccines went through the same approval steps all vaccinations must complete.
COVID-19 is a global health crisis, and as such, for one of the first times in history, the entire medical and scientific community were focused on one goal - a safe and effective way to prevent COVID-19.
With safety as a priority, all vaccines go through three basic stages of development:
- Exploratory stage
- Pre-clinical stage
- Clinical stage
On January 11, 2020, the genetic code of the virus that causes COVID-19 was published. This allowed scientists from all over the world to start finding vaccines. Following all of the same approvals and testing all vaccines must pass, safe and effective vaccines began to emerge. Only those proven safe, effective, and of high quality have been approved for use in Canada. Learn more about how the vaccine was made
MYTH: The COVID-19 vaccine causes infertility and miscarriages
FACT: Neither the COVID-19 vaccine nor the virus itself has been shown to increase the instances of infertility or miscarriages.
While it is common to exclude pregnant women from all clinical trials, including the COVID-19 vaccine ones, no other viral infection or vaccination-inducing immunity responses, have been shown to cause infertility or miscarriages. With this precedent, there is no scientific reason to believe this would be different with the COVID-19 vaccination.
If you were to contract COVID-19, your immune system would generate the same antibodies and proteins needed to fight off the virus. This is the same thing that happens when your body learns how to fight the virus from a vaccine. If the COVID-19 vaccine affected fertility, we would have already seen a spike in miscarriages and fertility in women infected with COVID-19. Globally, this has not happened.
MYTH: There are a lot of side effects and adverse reactions to the vaccine.
FACT: About 0.011% of doses administered in Canada have had a serious adverse effect.
*Over 841 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered globally. **In Canada, over 7.5 million doses have been administered. Of those, only 3,444 (0.045%) reported having an adverse effect, with the most common being soreness and redness at the site of the injection. Of the 7.5 million doses, only 464 people (0.006%) were considered to have had a serious reaction.
**There have been over 1 million cases of COVID-19 in Canada, and 23,500 people have died. COVID-19 has killed over 2,000 Albertans alone. COVID-19 is more deadly than any risk the vaccine may present.
* source: Global Change Data Lab (Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford), April 14, 2021
**source: Government of Canada Health Infobase, April 15, 2021
MYTH: The COVID-19 vaccine will alter my DNA
FACT: The Pfizer and Moderna vaccine use mRNA, which does not tamper with DNA.
mRNA vaccines work by teaching your existing cells how to make a protein that triggers the immune response needed to fight off COVID-19. Once your cells learn this, they will break down the mRNA, and it will be gone from your body. Injecting an mRNA vaccine into your body does not interact with or alter the DNA of your cells.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca and the newly approved Janssen COVID-19 vaccines do not use mRNA but instead, use a more traditional method (viral vector) of introducing a harmless virus into the body that solicits the same immune response to cause a spike in proteins needed to fight the COVID-19 virus.
With two different approaches to fighting off the COVID-19 virus, people can opt for the vaccine that makes them feel the most comfortable. All four vaccines have proven to be safe and effective.
MYTH: I’ve already had COVID-19 so I don’t need the vaccine.
FACT: There is not enough known about COVID-19 to say how long immunity will last after the initial infection.
Studies are still being done to see how long natural immunity lasts after recovering from COVID-19. It is also unknown at this time how someone who was previously infected would react if they were exposed to a variant of concern.
With all of these unknowns, it is the recommendation of Health Canada to receive a vaccine even if you have already had COVID-19.
Indoor & Outdoor Visits, and Community Walks
As we continue to follow all public health measures we want to take the time to remind you of some guidelines that are still in place. Before you visit:
- Even the slightest symptom could be COVID-19. Be honest with how you are feeling - if you’re questioning a symptom play it safe and stay home.
- If you are taking a resident on an outing, please remember to follow all public health measures like restrictions on gathering indoors and that these are not dependent on vaccination status.
- Make sure you use all appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) during your visit and practice physical distancing.
- Given the increased risk around eating and drinking – no outside food or beverages are allowed during your indoor visits.
Download our Community Walks/Outings, Indoor, and Outdoor Visit Guides (PDFs) for details and booking hours to ensure a safe and stress-free visit.
Virtual Visits
To ensure residents and family can stay connected, we continue to offer scheduled virtual visits. Residents and families can book one virtual technology session per week. All virtual visits will continue as long as the site is staffed appropriately and care needs are met.
- Check out this week's shout-out on our virtual visits below.
To book a virtual visit, contact your AgeCare community:
Recreation Programming
Our recreation team is working hard to create engaging activities that enrich the mind, body and spirit while reducing the risk of transmission and having the least impact on resident well-being.
At this time, recreation activities will be held in individual neighbourhoods where possible and in larger spaces. This is to ensure that all participants can maintain physical distancing.
View the February Recreation Calendar for your AgeCare Community:
- AgeCare Columbia
- AgeCare Midnapore
- AgeCare Orchard Manor
- AgeCare Sagewood
- AgeCare Seton
- AgeCare Skypointe
- AgeCare Sunrise Gardens
- AgeCare Valleyview
- AgeCare Walden Heights
A Message from the Alberta Continuing Care Association
There is a lot of misinformation circulating about the vaccines and the impact of COVID-19 on continuing care. Please turn to trusted sources of information.
Visit The Government of Canada to see many myths dispelled and find reliable information.
AgeCare is proud to be part of The Alberta Continuing Care Association
Weekly Shout Out
Did you know that all continuing care communities not in outbreak offer Rapid Antigen Screening for staff? Unlike traditional lab Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests, rapid testing can be done on-site and produce results in as little as 15 minutes.
The goal of this important program is to detect asymptomatic COVID-19 positive staff as early as possible. This will lead to less spread throughout our communities.
This week we want to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our Rapid Antigen Screening team at AgeCare Midnapore!
A special thank you to RN’s Dida and Noemi for keeping our building safe and providing weekly testing to our staff and contractors.