For more than two months, the intensive care unit at Michael Garron Hospital did not see any new COVID-19 patients. That changed on Saturday.
A patient in their mid-40s was admitted to the ICU of the Toronto east end hospital. They were unvaccinated when they contracted the virus.
It prompted the hospital's medical director of critical care to put out a message: "Don't let it be you and get vaccinated today."
Speaking to CP24 Saturday afternoon, Dr. Michael Warner said the patient was completely healthy before they got infected.
"The reason they aren't vaccinated is not because of availability or access to the vaccination. It's because they were persuaded by people they know, not to get vaccinated because of some false anti-science claims," Warner said
"And now (they are) filled with regrets and wanted this message shared to help influence other people to make a better decision for themselves and everyone else."
Many health experts have said that the fourth wave, driven by the contagious delta variant, will be the pandemic of the unvaccinated.
The province reported 111 COVID-19 patients in the ICU on Saturday, with most of them unvaccinated.
According to the latest vaccination data from the province, 71.8 per cent of those in their 40s have been fully vaccinated to date. There are more than 527,000 in that age group that are partially vaccinated or not vaccinated.
Meanwhile, the 12 to 17, 18 to 29 and 30 to 39 age groups remain lagging behind with their vaccination rates below 70 per cent.
It is expected that hospital admissions will rise in the coming weeks.
"In general, the situation in Ontario's hospitals is still much better than it was before. There are very few new COVID patients being admitted to the hospital on a day-to-day basis to ICUs, which is great news, but we know they're coming," Warner said.
"I truly don't know how many (patients will be admitted to the ICU). I hope it's not even close to how bad wave three was."
Warner warned that any new COVID-19 patient, which he called 'preventable admission,' will impact the health-care system's ability to provide non-COVID-related care.
That's why, he said, it is important that the remaining portion of the population who are unvaccinated get their COVID-19 shot.
"The vaccine does not make it impossible for you to get COVID, but it makes it much less likely that you're going to end up hospitalized," Warner said.
"You don't want to get this. The vaccines are safe and highly effective."
Warner said he is disappointed that the levels of government are not acting swiftly to increase vaccine uptake to protect the public from the delta variant.
In Ontario, there have been growing calls from many groups to mandate vaccines for health-care and education workers. The number of new COVID-19 cases in the province has risen in the past few weeks, with figures reaching above 500 for the first time in months.
So far, the Ford government has resisted. However, the Toronto Star reported Friday that the province will announce next week that it will require hospital and long-term care workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19. (CP24 has not independently confirmed the report.)
While it is crucial that the government establishes policies now to get more people vaccinated, Warner said the decision to get the shot will solely be on the individual.
"There are certain people whose minds will never be changed. And that's fine. I don't want to waste my time," he said.
"I'm trying to appeal to people's sense of community. Do this for other people. If that doesn't work, how about self-preservation? If you want to continue living your life in a healthy way, you don't want to end up in the ICU and be one of my stories, then get vaccinated."
