Disinformation / misinformation
The pandemic is not over.
Topic: Newfoundland and LabradorView all posts for the topic: Newfoundland and Labrador
Tag: COVID-19
Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines
Judge Strikes Down Kennedy’s Vaccine Policies
Ruling on a lawsuit brought by several prominent medical organizations, a district court said the federal government had not based its decisions on science in limiting Covid shots and revising the childhood immunization schedule.
In a severe blow to the Trump administration’s health agenda, a federal judge in Massachusetts on Monday blocked the government from implementing a series of decisions on vaccines made over the last year by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The ruling also reversed, at least for the time being, all decisions made by the panelists that Mr. Kennedy appointed to the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, which makes recommendations on which vaccines Americans should take. The court decision will prevent the committee from meeting later this week, as it was scheduled to do.
Comments closedTopic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Video | Doctors, patients raise awareness on Long COVID Awareness Day
Sunday marks International Long Covid Awareness Day, held annually on March 15. Six years after a global pandemic was declared, the affliction continues to be a battle for some long after their initial COVID-19 infection. The CBC’s Baneet Braich has more on the efforts to raise awareness about the illness.
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Topic: Ottawa-GatineauView all posts for the topic: Ottawa-Gatineau
International Long COVID Awareness Day 2026
International Long COVID Awareness Day – COVID-cautious walk
Date: Sunday, March 15, 2026
Time: 7 pm – 8 pm
Where: Ottawa City Hall (meet at the entrance, Laurier Avenue side)
Join us for a walk on International Long COVID Awareness Day, Sunday, March 15, 2026 at 7 pm. The route is wheelchair-accessible.
Comments closedTopic: airborne transmissionView all posts for the topic: airborne transmission
Study: SARS-CoV-2 RNA found in 39% of hospital air samples during outbreaks, despite good ventilation
COVID-19 genetic material was frequently detected in hospital air during community outbreaks, even in well-ventilated settings, according to a new study published in Respiratory Medicine.
A team led by Kirby Institute researchers conducted air and surface sampling in the emergency department (ED) and intensive care unit (ICU) of a large metropolitan hospital in Sydney, Australia, during two COVID-19 waves between November 2023 and July 2024. Their testing found that 39% (20 of 51) of aerosol samples were positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA.
Detection was significantly more common in the ED than in the ICU. Of the positive samples, 80% were collected in the ED and 20% in the ICU.
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Topic: British ColumbiaView all posts for the topic: British Columbia
Independent health groups urge BC to reinstate and improve healthcare mask protections
DoNoHarm BC and Protect Our Province BC warn of patient harm, staff shortages, and rising international risks
February 12, 2026 (British Columbia, Canada) – Independent public health groups in BC are calling on policy-makers to reinstate and improve mask requirements in medical settings. The call comes amidst multiple recent influenza and COVID-19 outbreaks in healthcare, following a winter punctuated by “unprecedented” ER closures and staff shortages, as well as massive measles outbreaks and a prolonged COVID wave across the border.
Comments closedTopic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Snapshots of the unseen: How we focused Long COVID in a recent photo exhibition
“Are you sick?” the Uber driver asked. “Is that why you’re wearing a mask?”
I launched into my usual monologue, delivered to strangers weekly at this point, explaining how COVID-19 transmission is still high and that I don’t want to be reinfected to worsen my existing Long COVID.
He looked at me, puzzled, through the rearview mirror. “I haven’t heard of that before,” he said, “but you look really good!”
I awkwardly stammered that I can no longer exercise, and a few years ago I could barely leave the house, almost dropping out of my graduate school program. I listed statistics of Long COVID prevalence and the compounding risks of infections.
Comments closedTopic: wastewater monitoringView all posts for the topic: wastewater monitoring
The Secret Weapon in Canada’s Sewers
As America takes an axe to its health data, expanding wastewater surveillance could save lives
As a virologist, I spend my days thinking about how to detect outbreaks of coronaviruses, mpox, West Nile and other pathogens early enough to stop them. Right now, I’m concerned about Canada’s awful flu season and the fact that we recently lost our measles-elimination status. But mostly, I’m terrified of what’s unfolding south of the border.
The consequences of the Trump administration’s cuts to the CDC and NIH will extend far beyond America. Those agencies form the backbone of North America’s infectious-disease surveillance. They track variants, monitor cross-border spread and feed data into global systems coordinated by the World Health Organization, helping everyone on Earth prepare. When those programs are dismantled, Canada loses key warning signs of influenza, RSV, measles and whatever diseases are coming next.
Comments closedTopic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines
This year’s Pfizer COVID vaccine estimated to be 57% effective against emergency, urgent care
The 2025-26 Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is about 57% effective against emergency department/urgent care (ED/UC) visits and 54% effective against outpatient visits among adults roughly 4 weeks after vaccination, with considerable uncertainty, according to preliminary estimates published on the preprint server medRxiv.
A team that included researchers from the Providence Veterans Affairs (VA) Healthcare System and Pfizer used a test-negative case-control design to estimate the early vaccine effectiveness (VE) of Pfizer’s BNT162b2 LP.8.1 vaccine against ED/UC and outpatient visits.
Participants were VA patients who had an acute respiratory infection (ARI) and underwent COVID-19 testing from September 10 to November 30, 2025.
Comments closedTopic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Post-COVID Brain Fog Linked to Elevated pTau-181
NEW evidence from a prospective cohort study suggests that elevated plasma phosphorylated tau (pTau-181) may be a critical biomarker in patients experiencing neurological post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (N-PASC), particularly among essential workers.
Comments closedTopic: N95 respiratorsView all posts for the topic: N95 respirators
Experts Call For N95s To Replace Surgical Masks As Flu, Covid Viruses Spread
Nationally, we are seeing very high levels of influenza and, again, a growing wave of COVID-19 infections. A new variant of influenza A H3N2 called subclade K is driving some of this epidemic. Subclade K has already appeared in Japan and Europe and is more severe, especially in the elderly and very young.
Last week, the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy reported 39,945 hospital admissions, up from 33,301 admissions the week before. While numbers have varied some week to week, they have been relatively high. There have been 19 pediatric deaths so far this season. The CDC estimates that there have been at least 15,000,000 illnesses, 180,000 hospitalizations, and 7,400 deaths from flu so far this season.
Comments closedTopic: respiratorsView all posts for the topic: respirators
C.D.C. Brings Back Hundreds of Suspended Workplace Safety Employees
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. placed about 90 percent of the roughly 1,000 employees of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health on administrative leave last April.
The Trump administration reinstated on Tuesday hundreds of employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who had been placed on administrative leave in April.
The employees are all staff members of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a C.D.C. unit charged with preventing work-related injuries.
“This moment belongs to every single person who refused to stay silent,” said Micah Niemeier-Walsh, an industrial hygienist at NIOSH and the vice president of an American Federation of Government Employees union local that represents C.D.C. employees.
Comments closedTopic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines
RFK Jr. appoints 2 vocal opponents of vaccine use in pregnancy to federal advisory board
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. today appointed two obstetricians-gynecologists to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Both appointees have a history of questioning vaccine safety in pregnancy, and one has erroneously claimed COVID-19 vaccines caused miscarriages.
Adam Urato, MD, of UMass Memorial Health, is the first listed appointee to ACIP. In October of 2024, he wrote on X, “CDC & ACOG recommend 4 vaccines in pregnancy: Flu, Tdap, RSV, & COVID. My patients often ask: ‘How do we know that all these vaccines won’t have adverse effects on my baby & me?’ The answer is: ‘We don’t.’ Women’s vax concerns should be acknowledged & their choices supported.”
Comments closedTopic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Increased levels of Alzheimer’s-linked protein found in some with long COVID
A study of 227 individuals who experienced neurocognitive difficulties post COVID-19 infection—such as headaches, vertigo, balance dysregulation, changes in taste/smell, and brain fog—displayed a significant increase in their blood plasma of a crucial protein called tau, which is found in nerves and especially in the brain. Excess levels of tau are linked to neurodegenerative diseases and found in many Alzheimer’s patients.
Published in eBioMedicine, the study suggests that people who experience long COVID neurocognitive symptoms could be at further risk for neurodegenerative diseases.
Comments closedTopic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines
Moderna COVID vaccine 53% effective against adult hospitalization in 2024-25 season, data suggest
A large observational study using US healthcare claims and electronic health record data suggests that Moderna’s updated 2024-25 COVID vaccine was 39% effective at preventing medically attended illness among adults and 53% effective against hospitalization, particularly those at high risk for severe disease.
The study, led by scientists from the vaccine manufacturer and published late last week in Infectious Diseases and Therapy, analyzed outcomes among 596,248 adults who received the updated mRNA-1273 vaccine, which targeted the Omicron KP.2 variant, from August 2024 to April 2025. Vaccinated people were matched 1:1 with unvaccinated counterparts.
Comments closedTopic: Northwest TerritoriesView all posts for the topic: Northwest Territories
Yellowknife adds more flu and Covid shot walk-in clinics
Yellowknife public health workers say two walk-in clinics for flu and Covid-19 shots will take place this week.
The first runs from 9am-4pm on Monday including the lunch hour, staff said in a Monday morning email, and the second operates to the same times on Friday, January 16.
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