Niagara's chief medical officer of health says people, including family members, who aren't vaccinated against COVID-19 shouldn't be invited to Thanksgiving gatherings this year, to help reduce the risk of spreading the potentially deadly virus.

“My advice would be not to have unvaccinated people invited to those family events,” Dr. Mustafa Hirji said on Monday, during a public health news conference.

In response to a reporter's question, he said he's worried that Thanksgiving could lead to a lot of spread of infection “and we may see a spike of infections coming out of that.”

“That could mean vaccinated people who are around an infected, unvaccinated person will be at risk of becoming one of those breakthrough infections that could lead to children having their school disrupted, people not being able to work or causing workplace outbreaks,” he said.

Aside from children under 12 who aren't yet eligible for a vaccine, the message was clear: Unvaccinated family members simply shouldn't be invited.

“People who are choosing not to be vaccinated probably shouldn't be invited to those Thanksgiving gatherings, to make sure you don't cause a risk for everybody else who's attending,” Hirji said.