More than 50 per cent of eligible Canadians are now fully vaccinated

More than 50 per cent of Canadians who are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine have now been fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus.

According to data tracked by CTVNews.ca, 50.06 per cent of Canadians age 12 and up have received the required two doses in a vaccine series. This is equal to 44 per cent of Canada's entire population.

As of Tuesday morning, Canada has administered more than 16.7 million second shots and over 26.2 million first doses.

The major vaccine milestone comes following the acceleration of second doses in most provinces amid the rapidly spreading Delta variant.

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National modelling released in June indicated that while there has been a "sustained national decline" in COVID-19 spread across the country, the threat of variants continues to pose a real risk, and so "sustained control efforts" will be needed in order to avoid a resurgence until vaccination coverage is high across the population.

Canadian health officials say they are worried that not enough young people are getting the shot, as the rate of first-dose shots has started slowing.

Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam said at a virtual news conference last week that younger Canadians tend to socialize more, and can transmit COVID-19 to older Canadians who may be more vulnerable to the disease even if they are fully vaccinated.

While vaccines can greatly reduce infection rates, and evidence suggests vaccinated people who do end up contracting COVID-19 get very mild, if any symptoms, there are some who still experience serious illness.

Two in three Canadians between 12 and 39 have had at least one dose, but The Canadian Press previously reported that this leaves 4.5 million Canadians in that age group without any protection.

According to data tracked by CTVNews.ca, nearly 78.5 per cent of Canadians age 12 and up have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, as of Tuesday morning.

With a file from The Canadian Press