The number of eligible individuals who have yet to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in Windsor-Essex remains high.
According to the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, about 55,000 people have yet to receive a dose of the vaccine.
Acting Medical Officer of Health Dr. Shanker Nesathurai says the people who are most likely to be hospitalized and getting sick are those who are unvaccinated.
"I think a reasonable estimate is you're six times more likely to get infected if you're unvaccinated," he says.
Dr. Nesathurai says Windsor-Essex is lagging behind other regions in the province.
"Windsor-Essex is in the lower half, the lower one-third historically of the 34 health districts for vaccination," he says. "So it does lag behind the provincial average and it does lag behind other health districts."
He says the health unit continues to ask eligible individuals to get vaccinated.
"I still think it's a challenge and something we have to put our public health energies on, is to try and reach the unvaccinated and try to get those people who are eligible for vaccine but have yet to receive the vaccine to get vaccinated," says Dr. Nesathurai. "I think it has a benefit to them and it also has a benefit to the broader community."
In mid-September just under 71,000 eligible individuals in Windsor-Essex had yet to receive a single dose of the vaccine.