After I am vaccinated against COVID-19

It is still possible to contract or spread COVID-19 after being vaccinated. 

• No vaccine is 100% effective and no vaccine will work for everyone. 

• This is why we must continue following other precautionary measures, like wearing a mask and physical distancing, even after we are vaccinated.

It is still possible to contract or spread COVID-19 after being vaccinated. 

• We now know that vaccines reduce the risk of transmission significantly. 

• We also know that there have been cases of people passing on the virus, even after they were vaccinated. 

• The clinical trials that test a vaccine have looked at whether a person is protected from COVID-19 when they are vaccinated, not if the person can be infectious to other people.

• It will continue to be important to follow all precautionary measures, as recommended by the Public Health Department, the Cree Nation Government, and your Cree Nation.

Yes. 

• Even after being vaccinated, we recommend you continue to respect precautionary measures in place in your community to prevent the spread of the virus.

• It takes time for your body to build immunity after vaccination – about 2-3 weeks after the first dose.

• Experts need to understand more about the protection that COVID-19 vaccines provide before changing recommendations about precautionary measures like wearing masks, limiting gatherings, and physical distancing.

• It will take time to vaccinate everyone who wants it, to assess how effective the vaccine will be, and how long the immune protection it gives will last.

No, not yet. The first vaccines for COVID-19 are promising, but keep in mind that:

• No vaccine can provide 100% protection from any virus and the protective effects of the vaccines might not last a lifetime. 

• It will take time to give the vaccine to everyone who wants it. 

• It will take time to assess how effective the COVID-19 vaccines will be, and how long the immune protection they provide will last. 

• We recommend you continue to respect precautionary measures in place in your community, to prevent the spread of the virus.

• When the COVID-19 vaccine is available in your community, precautionary measures may still be in effect.

• Public Health will continue to make recommendations about precautionary measures based on the number of people who get vaccinated (known as “coverage”), how quickly we can vaccinate people, and the ongoing situation with COVID-19 cases.

Yes. 

• Eeyou Istchee is the safest region for this year’s Goose Break, as we look at the situation in Quebec and Ontario.

• Precautionary measures are recommended at camp. Please consult the Cree Health Board’s bush camp guidelines available on the website: https://creehealth.org/covid/bush-camp-safety

Self-isolation when returning from a High-Risk area helps protect your family and people in your community.

• People coming from Areas of Risk will still need to self-isolate even if they have been vaccinated. 

• The vaccine helps you to protect yourself from catching the virus, or developing a severe form of COVID-19. 

• With vaccination rollout in all regions of Quebec and Canada, we may start to see a decrease of transmission of the virus, and be able to remove some regions, one by one, from the list of Areas of Risk.  But it is not possible at this time to predict when this will happen.

Given that not everyone in every community or high-risk area will be vaccinated, local checkpoints will remain in place at the discretion of Cree Nation councils.

There is ongoing research about how long the protection from COVID-19 vaccination lasts. At this time, we do not know what the vaccine schedule will be like in the future.