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Month: February 2025

Increased mortality and serious health issues for those hospitalised with COVID, study reveals

In short

International research has shown an increased risk of further hospitalisation and death among those who were hospitalised for COVID-19.

The first six months following infection showed the largest difference, with the excess risk of death almost tripling.

The study showed risk decreased over time, but remained elevated more than two years after infection.

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Measles cases in Ontario have nearly doubled over the last 2 weeks

This is a corrected story. A previous version from The Canadian Press erroneously reported that there were 84 new measles cases reported in Ontario over the last two weeks when in fact there were 78.

Ontario is reporting 78 new measles cases over the last two weeks, nearly doubling the province’s total count since an outbreak started in the autumn.

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Manitoba becomes first province to join national pharmacare program with $219M deal

OTTAWA – Manitoba became the first province to officially join Ottawa’s pharmacare program on Thursday, giving it access to federal funding to cover the cost of birth control and diabetes medications as well as hormone replacement therapy for menopause.

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The Trump years will be grim for long Covid sufferers

In December 2020, the U.S. government’s involvement in addressing the pandemic of long Covid officially began when Congress allocated $1.15 billion to the National Institutes of Health for research into the lasting health consequences of Covid-19. For people suffering from long Covid, the move offered hope.

Just over four years later, on Feb. 19, President Trump disbanded the Health and Human Services Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Long COVID, as part of an executive order titled “Commencing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy.” After the Biden administration’s tepid involvement and fitful progress in long Covid policy and practice, this decision may signal the end of meaningful federal involvement in mitigating the plight of millions of long Covid sufferers.

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A Texas child who was not vaccinated has died of measles, a first for the US in a decade

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — A child who wasn’t vaccinated died in a measles outbreak in rural West Texas, state officials said Wednesday, the first U.S. death from the highly contagious — but preventable — respiratory disease since 2015.

The school-aged child had been hospitalized and died Tuesday night amid the widespread outbreak, Texas’ largest in nearly 30 years. Since it began last month, a rash of 124 cases has erupted across nine counties.

The Texas Department of State Health Services and Lubbock health officials confirmed the death to The Associated Press. The child wasn’t identified but was treated at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, though the facility noted the patient didn’t live in Lubbock County.

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F.D.A. Cancels Meeting of Vaccine Experts Scheduled to Advise on Flu Shots

A panel of scientific experts that advises the Food and Drug Administration on vaccine policy — and that has been the target of criticism from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — learned on Wednesday that its upcoming meeting to discuss next year’s flu vaccines had been canceled.

The F.D.A. sent an email to members of the panel, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, on Monday afternoon informing them of the cancellation, according to a senior official familiar with the decision. There was no reason given. The panel was to meet on March 13.

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Imaging shows significant lung injury in kids with long COVID

Children and teens with long COVID have significant lung abnormalities detected with an advanced form of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), called free-breathing phase-resolved functional lung…

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City of Ottawa to fly flag at half-mast March 11 marking lives lost to COVID-19

The City of Ottawa will be marking five years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic with a flag-lowering in March.

The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, triggering a wave of public health measures and restrictions on populations in an attempt to stop the spread of the deadly virus.

More than 1,200 residents of Ottawa have died from COVID-19 according to public health statistics.

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Federal technology staffers resign rather than help Musk and DOGE

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 20 civil service employees resigned Tuesday from billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, saying they were refusing to use their technical expertise to “dismantle critical public services.”

“We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations,” the 21 staffers wrote in a joint resignation letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press. “However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments.”

The employees also warned that many of those enlisted by Musk to help him slash the size of the federal government under President Donald Trump’s administration were political ideologues who did not have the necessary skills or experience for the task ahead of them.

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Vaccinated kids at 57% to 73% lower risk of long COVID, CDC study suggests

mRNA vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 was tied to a 57% and 73% lower risk of having at least one or two long-COVID symptoms, respectively, in US children ages 5 to 17 years, according to a case-control study led by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The four-site study involved 622 children who were eligible for COVID-19 vaccination when they were infected with the Omicron variant and who completed a post-COVID condition (PCC) survey at least 60 days later. They were enrolled from the Pediatric Research Observing Trends and Exposures in COVID-19 Timelines (PROTECT) study, a longitudinal SARS-CoV-2 surveillance cohort convened in July 2021.

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Lung abnormalities seen in children and teens with long COVID

OAK BROOK, Ill. – An advanced type of MRI uncovers significant lung abnormalities in children and adolescents with long COVID, according to a new study published today in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

Post-COVID-19 condition, commonly known as long COVID, can affect individuals of all ages and is diagnosed when symptoms persist for more than 12 weeks after an initial COVID-19 infection. Children and adolescents typically experience a milder form of the condition, but common symptoms such as chronic fatigue, headaches and poor concentration can negatively impact school performance and social activities.

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Trump administration yanks CDC flu vaccine campaign

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is stopping a successful flu vaccination campaign that juxtaposed images of wild animals, such as a lion, with cute counterparts, like a kitten, as an analogy for how immunization can help tame the flu.

The news was shared with staff during a meeting on Wednesday, according to two CDC staffers who spoke with NPR on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, and a recording reviewed by NPR.

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Four more measles cases confirmed in Norfolk County and Brant County

The Grand Erie Public Health Unit is investigating four new cases of measles.

In a news release on Thursday, the health unit said the latest cases were identified in Norfolk County and Brant County.

Two of the recently ill people are recovering in hospital while the other two are at home.

Thursday’s update brings the total number of confirmed illnesses to 57, nine of which have occurred among adults and 48 within children.

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U.S. hasn’t sent essential seasonal flu data to WHO ahead of key vaccine meeting

Seasonal flu vaccines need to be updated each year because the virus changes so frequently. But the U.S. hasn’t contributed its information on what’s spreading there since January, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said.

For seasonal influenza, which forced schools to shut down in some American states earlier this month, the data isn’t being shared, Dr. Wenqing Zhang, head of the WHO’s global influenza program, told journalists in a webinar on Wednesday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) normally participate in global discussions hosted by WHO on influenza vaccinations twice a year.

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Additional measles case detected in B.C.‘s Lower Mainland: officials

A second case of measles linked to a group that travelled to Southeast Asia has been identified in B.C.’s Lower Mainland, according to health officials.

The infected person lives in the Vancouver Coastal Health region and was on Air Canada Flight 66, which arrived at YVR on Feb. 11, said a statement from the health authority on Wednesday. The person was travelling in the same “party” as a Fraser Health region resident in whom measles was detected over the weekend.

People who were on the flight or who were in the international arrivals area of Vancouver’s airport between 7 and 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 11 may have been exposed, the notification from health officials said.

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Canada buys 500,000 doses of H5N1 avian influenza vaccine for those most at risk

The Public Health Agency of Canada said Wednesday it’s purchased 500,000 doses of a human vaccine to protect against avian influenza for those most at risk from being exposed to the virus by infected animals.

The agency said it secured the initial supply of GSK’s Arepanrix H5N1 A/America vaccine by leveraging an existing agreement.

“While the current risk to the public remains low, individuals with higher-level exposure to infected animals are at increased risk and should take appropriate precautions,” the agency said in a statement.

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Watch Out. The Plague Years Start Now

Since the inauguration of Donald Trump on Jan. 20, the greatest health sciences organizations in the world have been first silenced, then frozen or outright destroyed. The scale, speed and stupidity of the destruction have been breathtaking.

The Trump regime is doing this to its own people, especially those in states that voted for Trump, but the shock is being felt around the world.

It is a safe prediction that Trump’s attack on health science will result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives. And millions of lives will be diminished.

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U.S. reverses plan to shut down free covid test program

The government had been preparing to shut down the program that ships free coronavirus tests to American households and was considering destroying 160 million tests.

The Trump administration reversed a plan to shut down the government website that ships free coronavirus tests to households late Tuesday, after The Washington Post reported that the administration was preparing to end the program and was evaluating the costs of destroying or disposing of tens of millions of tests.

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