Abandoned, dismissed and gaslighted: there is no excuse for the way ME sufferers have been betrayed

Changes in guidance and science seem to have little impact on millions of devastated lives. It’s a shocking social crisis playing out behind closed doors

Published September 24, 2026

Published by: The Guardian
Published on: September 24, 2026
By George Monbiot

I’ve spent my working life covering neglected issues. But few are neglected like the devastating chronic condition ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis, or chronic fatigue syndrome). In severe cases, the illness shuts down people’s lives almost entirely, causing an extreme loss of energy and a wide range of physical and cognitive symptoms that can prevent patients from working, socialising and, sometimes, even moving or eating. Yet these people have been more or less airbrushed from our minds.

To find out what this neglect looks like in practice, this week I put out a call on Bluesky asking people with ME/CFS about their recent experiences of treatment. I was immediately inundated with horrifying testimonies. “I’ve just been completely abandoned”; “a 10-year waiting list for treatment”; “we’ve given up seeking medical support”; “stuck in limbo”; “I just felt utterly unheard, invalidated”. I’ve been sent hundreds of shocking and heart-rending accounts.

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airborne transmission

‘Outdated’ health policies surrounding Covid still pose a danger today, says U of C researcher

Published September 18, 2026

Published by: CTV News
Published on: September 18, 2026
By Tommy Osborne

University of Calgary professor Mark Ungrin has dedicated years of research highlighting what he believes is of significant concern to all Canadians’ health.

He says health policy and the federal government’s response to Covid was based on outdated information, and even today that same policy remains in place.

“Unfortunately, when Covid hit, there was very little attention paid to aerosol transmission as a means of Covid infecting from one person to another,” Ungrin said. “Warnings were provided by scientists, engineers, occupational health and safety experts, many people within the medical profession, but infection control leaders really based their decisions on some fairly outdated understandings of aerosol biology and disease transmission via aerosols, and as a result, they basically assumed that it was not possible for Covid to be airborne.”

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vaccines

Health Canada Authorizes Pfizer and BioNTech’s Omicron XFG-Adapted COVID-19 Vaccine

Published September 17, 2026

Published by: PR Newswire
Published on: September 17, 2026
By Pfizer Canada

KIRKLAND, QC, Sept. 17, 2026 /CNW/ — Pfizer Canada ULC and BioNTech SE today announced that Health Canada has authorized the XFG variant-adapted COMIRNATY® for active immunization of individuals aged 6 months and older against COVID-19. The updated COMIRNATY® vaccine targets the Omicron XFG lineage, in alignment with public health recommendations for the 2026-2027 season.

The Health Canada approval is based on the cumulative body of evidence previously submitted by Pfizer and BioNTech that includes clinical, non-clinical and real-world data supporting the safety and effectiveness of COMIRNATY®.

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Alberta

Alberta government maintaining COVID vaccine fee as it prepares for fall influenza campaign

Province says Albertans can start booking vaccination appointments on Oct. 5

Published September 14, 2026

Published by: CBC News / The Canadian Press
Published on: September 14, 2026

The Alberta government says its provincewide influenza, COVID and respiratory syncytial virus vaccination campaign will begin next month. In a news release issued Monday, the…

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healthcare

Provinces are turning to U.S. health-care workers to help with shortages. And it’s working

Recruitment can help fill gaps, but experts say Canada needs to do more to retain its own health-care workers

Published September 13, 2026

Published by: CBC Radio
Published on: September 13, 2026
By Colleen Ross

Registered nurse Shane Tyson was done with the U.S.

He was working in Minnesota at the not-for-profit Mayo Clinic Health System and the Olmsted Medical Center. But in 2025, Tyson says he became increasingly concerned about the deterioration of health care, as well as tighter immigration enforcement.

Then ICE agents arrested a patient as they were leaving a primary care appointment where he worked, Tyson says.

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long COVID

Why Is No One Talking About Long COVID?

Published September 6, 2026

Published by: MedpageToday
Published on: September 6, 2026
By Jeffrey D. Klausner, Lao-Tzu Allan-Blitz

More than 6 years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, its effects have continued. In March 2024, roughly 17 million adults (7% of all U.S. adults) reported currently having symptoms consistent with long COVID, a chronic condition characterized by persistent symptoms lasting 3 months or longer after infection. Long COVID can affect any system or organ in the body. Symptoms of long COVID include chronic fatigue, brain fog, difficulty concentrating, severe tiredness after exercise, lightheadedness and palpitations when standing, and many other problems. Those chronic symptoms often make it difficult for people to go to work or school.

As a result, long COVID imposes substantial disability. In fact, researchers have estimated that years lived with disability attributable to long COVID is comparable to other common diseases like Alzheimer’s and asthma. In addition to the immediate effects on patients and their families, that disability translates into profound economic losses. Economists estimated in 2022 that the costs of long COVID will result in more than $3 trillion lost to society over 5 years, either through reduced quality of life and increased medical care or through lost economic productivity.

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Month: September 2026