Tag: Canada

Published by: CTV News
Published on: January 11, 2026
By Kamil Karamali

Canadian doctors are warning that a new U.S. policy which slashes the number of vaccines universally recommended to all children could have devastating, and potentially deadly effects in Canada, including increasing disease spread through American travellers visiting north of the border.

“This was just incomprehensibly stupid. I was horrified,” said family doctor and former president of the Ontario Medical Association, Dr. Sohail Gandhi in an interview with CTV News Saturday. “Children in the U.S. are going to die as a result of this move – and, worse, some children are going to have lifelong complications as a result of this move.”

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six years

COVID-19 Is Six Today. What We’ve Learned

We need cleaner air, which requires changes in medical culture.

Published December 31, 2025

Published by: The Tyee
Published on: December 31, 2025
By Crawford Kilian

Last year on this date, I published a Tyee article about the fifth anniversary of the first public announcement of what we now know as COVID-19.

My conclusions then were that we hadn’t learned much from the experience. A year later, many of us have unlearned the value of vaccination. Outbreaks of measles and whooping cough have predictably followed. Alberta has stopped reporting COVID-19 in hospitals.

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Alberta

Masks now required for patients, visitors at 4 Edmonton hospitals

Published December 23, 2025

Published by: CTV News
Published on: December 23, 2025
By Hannah Kavanagh

Alberta 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.

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influenza

As H3N2 sweeps across Canada, what to know about flu’s heart attack risk

Published December 23, 2025

Published by: Global News
Published on: December 23, 2025
By Uday Rana

It’s more than just a bad cold: influenza can also raise your risk of a heart attack shortly after an infection, medical experts are warning as the H3N2 strain spreads rapidly in Canada.

At the same time, flu season is coinciding with another risk factor for heart attacks – shovelling snow.

“Any time you get an infection, including a viral infection, there’s the release in your body of molecules that both trigger inflammation and sustain inflammation. And part of that is an increased tendency for your blood to clot,” said Dr. Fahad Razak, internal medicine physician at St. Michael’s Hospital and professor at the University of Toronto.

“That can have immediate effects within the weeks following an infection, resulting in things like strokes or heart attacks.”

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indoor air quality

Schools must improve air quality to slow spread of respiratory illness, advocates say

Published December 23, 2025

Published by: The Globe and Mail
Published on: December 23, 2025
By Dave McGinn

Heather Hanwell’s 12-year-old daughter recently missed almost two weeks of school after being hit hard by a viral infection. She’s among many parents who are caring for sick kids this flu season, which so far has seen a surge of cases among school-age children.

But the experience was particularly frustrating for Dr. Hanwell, an epidemiologist who says that improving the air quality in schools would help reduce the spread of contagious respiratory illnesses.

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indoor air quality

Schools have become cesspools for cold and flu, but they don’t have to be: Ontario School Safety

Published December 21, 2025

Published by: CityNews
Published on: December 21, 2025
By Rachel Morgan

The volunteer-led organization Ontario School Safety is renewing calls to the Ontario government to improve indoor air quality in schools.

The call comes as Ontario sees a rapid increase in cases of the flu, particularly impacting young children.

In April, 2021, the Government of Ontario announced it was investing over $130 million, in addition to funds from the Canadian government, to upgrade school infrastructure to protect children from COVID-19. The majority of this funding was earmarked for ventilation projects to improve indoor air quality.

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influenza

Flu season has hit Canadians hard and early, as cases continues to rise

Published December 19, 2025

Published by: The Globe and Mail
Published on: December 19, 2025
By Alanna Smith

At a neighbourhood Christmas party in Ottawa earlier this month, there were all the usual holiday delights: festive decor, treats and even a visit from the big man up North. It was an evening to remember for Christine Guptill, but not in the way she had imagined.

Tucked into a party room at Royale Ranch, a horse farm in the city’s south, there were nearly 40 people at the party – half children, half adults. Ms. Guptill said some children were coughing and she overheard one family say they had left their sick kid at home.

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influenza

Flu hospitalizations expected to ‘increase sharply,’ officials warn, as cases surge and vaccinations lag

Published December 19, 2025

Published by: CBC News
Published on: December 19, 2025

The Latest

Data from the Public Health Agency of Canada released today shows the number of flu outbreaks across the country is still rising, and hospitalizations due to the virus are set to surge in the coming weeks.
Health officials across the country are reporting a surge in cases of influenza this month, especially among children and youth.
There’s particular concern about low vaccination uptake this winter, with many provinces reporting only around 20 per cent of eligible residents have received the flu vaccine.
This year’s available vaccine isn’t a good match for the current predominant strain, H3N2 — but doctors are urging people to get their shots regardless.
Got a question about flu season? Send it to ask@cbc.ca.

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Nova Scotia

Masks now required at all Nova Scotia Health sites

Published December 18, 2025

Published by: CTV News
Published on: December 18, 2025
By Natalie Lombard

Nova Scotia Health says masking is required throughout all its facilities beginning Thursday.

However, the health authority says masks are not required in:

administrative buildings
private offices, nursing stations, or conference rooms (if no patients are present)
cafeterias (when people are seated)
patient bed-spaces (for patients, partners, and visitors)

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Alberta

Alberta quietly ends public reporting of COVID outbreaks in acute care

Alberta’s government said the province is under no legal obligation to continue publishing the data in a “post-pandemic context.”

Published December 17, 2025

Published by: St. Albert Gazette
Published on: December 17, 2025
By Brett McKay

Alberta’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.

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vaccines

Most Canadians still confident in vaccines, but hesitancy has increased, poll says

Published December 17, 2025

Published by: The Canadian Press
Published on: December 17, 2025
By Nicole Ireland

TORONTO – A new poll says that about three-quarters of Canadian adults still have confidence in vaccines, but hesitancy has increased over the last five years.

The survey conducted by Leger Healthcare and released on Tuesday says 74 per cent of respondents said they were either “very confident” (42 per cent) or “somewhat confident” (32 per cent) in the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.

But about a quarter of respondents said they are less confident than they were before.

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Ontario

3 children die from influenza A-related complications in Ottawa and eastern Ontario region

Published December 15, 2025

Published by: CTV News
Published on: December 15, 2025
By Josh Pringle

Three children have died from flu-related complications in the Ottawa area this month, as officials warn of a “rapid and significant rise” in influenza A cases.

In a statement released Monday morning, Ottawa Public Health said three children between the ages of five and nine have died from influenza A-related complications in the Ottawa and Eastern Ontario Health Unit regions during the first two weeks of December.

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vaccines

COVID shot reduces risk of severe illness, premature birth in pregnancy, study says

Published December 15, 2025

Published by: The Canadian Press
Published on: December 15, 2025
By Nicole Ireland

TORONTO – A new study says the COVID-19 vaccine protects pregnant women from getting severely ill or giving birth prematurely.

Researchers with the Canadian Surveillance of COVID-19 in Pregnancy (CANCOVID-Preg) program, led by the University of British Columbia analyzed public health and clinical records of 19,899 pregnant people diagnosed with COVID between April 5, 2021 and Dec. 31, 2022.

That time period covered infections with both Delta and Omicron variants in eight provinces and one territory.

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Trump regime

Health minister says she worries about U.S. public health decisions harming Canadians

U.S. panel voted to remove universal hepatitis B vaccine recommendations for infants

Published December 13, 2025

Published by: CBC News
Published on: December 13, 2025
By Benjamin Lopez Steven

Health Minister Marjorie Michel says she worries about how recent actions by U.S. public health agencies, like removing a universal hepatitis B vaccine recommendation for American infants, could hurt Canadians’ health.

“It’s a big worry for me,” Michel said in an interview on CBC’s The House that airs Saturday morning. “The U.S. is our closest neighbour. And it’s a big neighbour.”

“It’s absolutely crucial to work with provinces and territories to be all on the same page, for example, on vaccination,” Michel told host Catherine Cullen.

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hepatitis B

Expert calls for Hep B vaccines at birth in Ontario, saying kids are falling through the cracks

Dr. Jordan Feld wants this province to follow international guidance and vaccinate children at birth.

Published December 12, 2025

Published by: Ottawa Citizen
Published on: December 12, 2025
By Elizabeth Payne

A leading liver expert is calling on the Ontario government to re-evaluate its hepatitis B vaccination strategy, saying some children are falling through the cracks and getting diagnosed with hepatitis B virus (HBV) before vaccines are offered at age 12.

That puts them at high risk for a life of chronic illness and even liver cancer that could have been prevented, says Dr. Jordan Feld, director of the Toronto Centre for Liver Disease at the University Health Network and a senior scientist at Toronto General Hospital Research Institute. He wants Ontario to follow international guidance and vaccinate children at birth.

His comments come amid an outcry in the United States after a Centres for Disease Control panel, appointed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., voted to scrap birth doses of the vaccine. That decision has been heavily criticized by experts, who say the change is not based on science and will put children at risk.

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Ottawa-Gatineau

Return of mandatory masking in Outaouais hospitals

Published December 9, 2025

Published by: Radio-Canada
Published on: December 9, 2025
By Benjamin Vachet

The Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux (CISSS) de l’Outaouais has decided to reinstate mandatory mask wearing upon entry into its care facilities.

Starting on Tuesday, wearing a mask is mandatory in hospital centres, including the outpatient ward, the Pierre-Janet mental health hospital (including units 5 and 6 of the juvenile wing), the Physical rehabilitation centre, La RessourSe, residential and long-term care centres and seniors’ homes and alternative housing.

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British Columbia

Opinion: Don’t wait for B.C. public health to protect you this flu season

Published December 6, 2025

Published by: Surrey Now-Leader
Published on: December 6, 2025
By Dr. Lyne Filiatrault

Ten years ago, I took on a physician leadership position at my health authority that gave me a glimpse into the workings of its hospitals.

During a particular meeting that has remained burned into my memory, the department head for medicine was shaking his head in disbelief at having to state the obvious: “Why is it that every year, just like snow in winter, we know flu is coming, and yet every year flu catches us by surprise?”

The room fell silent.

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measles

Alberta government rejected expert advice to report probable measles cases, documents show

Published December 6, 2025

Published by: The Globe and Mail
Published on: December 6, 2025
By Alanna Smith

The 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.

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Tag: Canada

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

We need cleaner air, which requires changes in medical culture.

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

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Still COVIDing Canada Posts

The Latest

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Alberta’s government said the province is under no legal obligation to continue publishing the data in a “post-pandemic context.”

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

U.S. panel voted to remove universal hepatitis B vaccine recommendations for infants

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Dr. Jordan Feld wants this province to follow international guidance and vaccinate children at birth.

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts