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 province said it’s maintaining the $100 fee it brought in last year for those seeking the COVID vaccine, though there’s a long list of reasons that could see the fee be waived for people, such as having health conditions that put them at risk for severe illness.
Comments closedAlberta Health Services (AHS) has instituted a masking requirement for four hospitals in the Edmonton area.
An enhanced masking directive is in place at Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital, Royal Alexandra Hospital, Stollery Children’s Hospital and the University of Alberta Hospital.
This means all patients, designated support persons and visitors must wear a mask in the emergency departments of the above acute care facilities. There are signs at the front entrance of each location signalling where enhanced masking is happening, AHS says.
Comments closedAlberta’s government quietly eliminated its public reporting dashboard of COVID-19 outbreaks in acute care facilities, saying the province is under no legal obligation to continue publishing the data in a “post-pandemic context.”
Alberta Health Services’ (AHS) acute-care outbreaks webpage provided weekly public reports on COVID-19 outbreaks in AHS and Covenant Health facilities, including the location where an outbreak had been reported, the date the outbreak was declared, the number of units affected, and how many patients and health-care workers were infected.
Comments closedThe Alberta government rejected expert advice to expand public reporting of measles to include probable cases, despite the measure being supported by local and provincial public health officials, documents obtained by The Globe and Mail show.
Since the outbreak began in Alberta last spring, only confirmed cases of measles have been publicly reported. New data provided through a Freedom of Information request show at least 450 probable cases of measles have also been identified in the province, bringing the total to nearly 2,500.
Comments closedSome Alberta pediatricians say making childhood immunizations routinely available in pediatric hospitals could help improve slumping vaccination rates in the province.
But the Alberta government is closing the door on that idea, saying children’s hospitals are under significant pressure, and it’s taking other steps to improve access.
Dr. Sam Wong, president of the section of pediatrics with the Alberta Medical Association, said he and his colleagues have been advocating for this change for several years.
Comments closedCanada has been stripped of its measles elimination status after failing to interrupt transmission within one year of an outbreak that continues to spread in parts of the country.
The Public Health Agency of Canada said Monday it was notified by The Pan American Health Organization, a regional arm of the World Health Organization, that Canada lost its designation – an accomplishment it held for 27 years.
“While transmission has slowed recently, the outbreak has persisted for over 12 months, primarily within under-vaccinated communities,” the statement said.
Comments closedThe Pan American Health Organization has informed the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) that Canada no longer has the status of a country that has eliminated measles, due to an outbreak that has been ongoing for more than one year.
This status indicates that there is no continuous transmission of the disease for 12 months or more in a given geographical area.
“Despite considerable efforts by Canada, the country has lost its status. Measles is now considered to be endemic in this country,” PAHO director Dr. Jason Barbosa told a news conference.
Comments closedThe Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Alberta has launched an online campaign against the province’s $100 fee for Albertans who want to get a COVID-19 vaccination.
A new website calls on the province to “axe the vax tax.”
The website calls the fee unfair, reckless and dangerous, and allows Albertans to write a letter to Premier Danielle Smith, Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi and their local MLAs protesting the province’s decision to charge Albertans $100 for a COVID vaccine this year.
Comments closedResearch published today in Cell Reports Medicine reveals key biological differences that may explain why women with long COVID — especially those who develop chronic fatigue syndrome — tend to experience more severe and persistent symptoms than men do.
Post COVID-19 condition, or long COVID, is diagnosed when neurological, respiratory or gastrointestinal symptoms develop or continue three months or more after an acute SARS-CoV-2 infection.
The likelihood of developing long COVID is three times higher for women than men, but until now the underlying biological mechanisms driving this disparity have remained unknown.
Comments closedChanges to the Alberta government’s COVID vaccination plan this year mean many Albertans are facing long waitlists and a hefty bill to get their shot.
With the government-run program only offered through public health clinics and many of those clinics experiencing long waits, some Albertans are choosing instead to go to their local pharmacist to get immunized — as they have done in previous years.
Comments closedEDMONTON – Alberta doctors say the province’s effort to save money on COVID-19 vaccines could end up costing taxpayers far more in public health-care costs.
Dr. Brian Wirzba, head of the Alberta Medical Association, which represents doctors in the province, says there’s still time for the government to improve public communication about vaccines and make them more accessible.
“In my clinic talking to patients, they’re still confused about how they could even get it,” said Wirzba, who practises internal medicine in Edmonton.
Comments closedSome Albertans struggled to book COVID-19 shots as the province’s fall immunization campaign opened to the general public on Monday.
By late afternoon, Health Link had been flooded with more than 10,000 calls related to the COVID vaccine alone and a spokesperson for Primary Care Alberta confirmed the provincial health information phone line was facing extremely high call volumes.
Comments closedManitoba will continue covering the cost of COVID-19 shots as some other provinces begin charging residents.
The vaccinations are free for anyone six months and up and will remain that way in Manitoba, according to the province.
“There are no plans to change Manitoba’s policy at this time,” reads a statement from a Manitoba government spokesperson.
The news comes as Alberta and Quebec recently announced they would stop offering COVID-19 shots for free to the general public.
Comments closedAlbertans who don’t qualify for free COVID-19 vaccinations in their home province can get one in British Columbia.
B.C.’s Ministry of Health confirmed that detail in response to a query from CBC News. Canadian residents can get vaccinated due to a reciprocal agreement between all provinces and territories.
“Any publicly funded immunization in B.C. can be provided at no cost to any Canadian travelling within the province,” a statement from the ministry said. “This includes providing publicly funded COVID-19 vaccine to people of Alberta.”
Comments closedCalls are growing louder in Alberta for the COVID-19 vaccine to be covered free of charge for all residents, following the province’s decision Tuesday to partially reverse its vaccine policy and expand coverage to some health-care workers.
While the move has been welcomed by workers and unions, public health experts and critics say it doesn’t go far enough, leaving many Albertans uncertain about access to the vaccine.
“The government has now taken a step towards admitting that they had the wrong approach,” said Chris Galloway, executive director at Friends of Medicare.
Comments closedEDMONTON – In a partial policy reversal, Alberta’s government said Tuesday it will cover the cost of COVID-19 vaccinations for health-care workers.
Maddison McKee, spokesperson to Primary and Preventative Health Services Minister Adriana LaGrange, said in an email that COVID-19 vaccine coverage will be extended to all health-care workers this fall under the first phase of the province’s vaccination rollout.
“Immunization will remain voluntary,” said McKee.
Comments closedCanada is at risk of losing its measles elimination status as an outbreak that started in New Brunswick last year continues to grow.
Measles has been considered eliminated in Canada since 1998, and the country saw an average of 91 cases annually before October 2024, when the outbreak began. The designation means that, within a certain geographical region, there has been no sustained measles transmission over 12 consecutive months.
Since then, of the 4,394 measles infections nationwide, Health Canada data shows that most individuals were exposed to the virus domestically (94 per cent) and were not vaccinated (88 per cent).
Comments closed