Comments closedOur research group is truly grateful for the overwhelming support we’ve received from the community over the past few months through emails, letters, and phone calls advocating for the continuation of our wastewater monitoring system.
We’ve gained invaluable insights into how this information is essential for community members facing health challenges, and we are thrilled to continue providing this vital service. A heartfelt thank you to OPH, CHEO, and CHEO-RI for their unwavering support.
Tag: COVID-19
No flu or COVID-19 vaccines for medical clinics as Alberta’s fall immunization launch nears
Family doctors and nurse practitioners have been told they will not be receiving deliveries of flu or COVID-19 vaccines in time for the fall immunization program launch later this month. And it is unclear if they will get any at all.
In addition to AHS public health clinics and pharmacies, community medical clinics can administer publicly funded vaccines, including those that protect against COVID and influenza.
But shipments of vaccines — to these clinics — have stopped, jeopardizing their participation in the fall immunization campaign.
Comments closedCOVID-19 boosters start rolling out to some Canadians. Who can get them?
Updated COVID-19 vaccines are starting to roll out to some high-risk Canadians, but others will have to wait a little while longer before these new shots are offered to them.
Last month, Health Canada approved Pfizer and Moderna’s latest COVID-19 vaccines targeting the most recent variants of the virus.
Both shots are approved for everyone aged six months and older.
The new mRNA vaccines from both pharmaceutical companies target the KP.2 subvariant of Omicron that was dominating COVID-19 spread earlier this year.
Comments closedCOVID-19 prevalence high and rising across most of province as BCCDC revamps reporting dashboards
The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – in B.C. wastewater is high and rising across most regions, according to the latest data from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.
The BCCDC released its first weekly data update of the 2024-25 respiratory illness season Thursday, and took the opportunity to dramatically revise the information it presents and the way it is presented.
Gone is the previous year’s “COVID-19 Situation Report” dashboard, replaced with a new dashboard titled “Viral Respiratory Outcomes.”
While the situation report included specific numbers for newly confirmed infections, hospital admissions, critical care admissions and deaths within 30 days of a positive COVID test, the new dashboard reports the latter three numbers as a rate per million residents.
Comments closedFor Canadians seeking a non-mRNA COVID vaccine, lack of Novavax shot is ‘unfair,’ advocates say
The federal government’s decision to not provide Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine this respiratory virus season raises health equity concerns, experts and advocates say, as some Canadians look to the U.S. to get the shot.
The Public Health Agency of Canada said it won’t provide the protein-based vaccine called Nuvaxovid because the manufacturer required a minimum order that far exceeds last year’s uptake of the vaccine.
The health agency said 125,000 Nuvaxovid doses were ordered in 2023, but only 5,529 were administered. This fall, it will only supply provinces and territories with the reformulated Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.
But some Canadians who say they are immunocompromised and have had adverse reactions to the mRNA vaccines are calling the decision unfair.
Comments closedCanadian government not ordering Novavax’s protein-based COVID-19 vaccine this year
TORONTO – The Public Health Agency of Canada says it is not providing Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine this respiratory virus season, citing low demand.
It says the manufacturer requires a minimum order of its updated protein-based vaccine, called Nuvaxovid, which far exceeds the uptake by Canadians last year.
The agency says a very small portion of the doses ordered in 2023 were used and that its decision reflects efforts to limit vaccine wastage.
It is distributing two mRNA vaccines — made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna — that are approved for adults and children six months and older.
Comments closedThe N.W.T. now has a virus ‘dashboard’ so you can see COVID-19, flu and RSV trends
Data collected by wastewater monitoring in six N.W.T. communities is being put to a new use: an online dashboard that tracks how much COVID-19, flu and RSV are in those communities.
The N.W.T. government announced the new dashboard Wednesday in a news release. It covers Yellowknife, Behchokǫ̀, Fort Smith, Fort Simpson, Hay River and Norman Wells.
The dashboard is updated once a week on Tuesdays. For the most recent reporting period, as of Wednesday, it didn’t have data for Hay River but showed COVID-19 was still being detected to a high or moderate level in all the other communities. No detection was noted for flu or RSV.
Comments closedWant To Prevent Long Covid? Should You Take Metformin Or Paxlovid?
Previously, I wrote about Paxlovid being underprescribed for treating acute Covid in patients at high risk for serious illness. The FDA granted an Emergency Use Authorization based on data showing that “Paxlovid significantly reduced the proportion of people with Covid-19 related hospitalization or death” by 88% compared to placebo.
In unvaccinated people, Paxlovid was also associated with a 26% lower risk of long Covid in a study by Ziyad Al-Aly.
The data on Paxlovid for those previously vaccinated is mixed. A smaller study from the University of California at San Francisco found no benefit in people who had been previously vaccinated.
Comments closedHealth Canada approves Pfizer-BioNTech’s updated COVID-19 vaccine
Health Canada approved Pfizer-BioNTech’s updated COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday, marking its third authorization of vaccine formulations that protect against the most recently circulating variants of the virus.
Pfizer-BioNTech’s mRNA vaccine, called Comirnaty, targets the KP.2 subvariant of Omicron, replacing the previous version that targeted the XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariant.
The approval of Comirnaty follows last week’s authorization of Moderna’s updated Spikevax mRNA vaccine and Novavax’s updated protein-based vaccine, Nuvaxovid.
Comments closedWhat Repeat COVID Infections Do to Your Body, According to Science
These days, it’s tempting to compare COVID-19 with the common cold or flu. It can similarly leave you with a nasty cough, fever, sore throat—the full works of respiratory symptoms. And it’s also become a part of the societal fabric, perhaps something you’ve resigned yourself to catching at least a few times in your life (even if you haven’t already). But let’s not forget: SARS-CoV-2 (the virus responsible for COVID) is still relatively new, and researchers are actively investigating the toll of reinfection on the body. While there are still a lot of unknowns, one thing seems to be increasingly true: Getting COVID again and again is a good deal riskier than repeat hits of its seasonal counterparts.
It turns out, SARS-CoV-2 is more nefarious than these other contagious bugs, and our immune response to it, often larger and longer-lasting. COVID has a better ability to camouflage itself in the body, “and it has the keys to the kingdom in the sense that it can unlock any cell and get in,” says Esther Melamed, PhD, an assistant professor in the department of neurology at Dell Medical School, University of Texas Austin, and the research director of the Post-COVID-19 program at UT Health Austin. That’s because SARS-CoV-2 binds to ACE2 receptors, which exist in cells all over your body, from your heart to your gut to your brain. (By contrast, cold and flu viruses replicate mostly in your respiratory tract.)
Comments closedModerna’s updated COVID-19 vaccine is coming to Alberta, but Novavax shots are not
With the approval of Moderna’s updated COVID-19 vaccine, doctors are hoping the shots will be available soon and Albertans will opt to roll up their sleeves to get one.
Last week, Health Canada announced it had authorized Moderna’s new formulation, which targets the recent KP.2 subvariant, and that shipments would arrive within days.
A decision on Pfizer’s new formulation is expected in the next few weeks.
Comments closedHealth Canada approves updated Novavax COVID-19 vaccine
An updated version of Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine has been approved by Canada’s health agency.
According to a Thursday update on the government’s vaccine portal, Health Canada will replace the older version of the protein-based vaccine, Nuvaxovid XBB.1.5. The new version will include an update to the antigen composition targeting the JN.1 variant.
“After a thorough scientific review Health Canada has approved the company’s JN.1 Variant vaccine,” the agency posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Comments closedNo good option: These Canadians want to be protected against COVID but are unhappy with the choice of vaccines this fall
The federal government has decided against procuring a protein-based COVID-19 vaccine for the fall immunization campaign — despite it being the only type that some immunocompromised people say they have been able to tolerate.
While the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna are effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalization and death, some people with autoimmune diseases say the jabs can come with a terrible trade-off.
Comments closedOntario: Contact councillors — save Ontario’s wastewater monitoring!
📣 Let municipal councillors know you want funding for wastewater monitoring to continue
✉️ Send letters to municipal councillors to voice your support for wastewater monitoring. Use our online tool to send emails.
Comments closedNo Novavax COVID-19 vaccine in Canada this fall, immunocompromised N.B. woman feels ‘expendable’
Linda Wilhelm, 64, of Bloomfield, N.B., is planning a road trip to the United States. But it’s not to go sightseeing or shopping.
Wilhelm, who suffers from severe rheumatoid arthritis, hopes to get the updated Novavax COVID-19 vaccine, which won’t be available in Canada as part of the fall vaccination campaign, unless provinces and territories order doses on their own.
Wilhelm, president of the Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance and a member of the Canadian Immunocompromised Advocacy Network, says the protein-based vaccine is a better option for immunocompromised people like her than the more common Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines. She says she feels “expendable” and urges the federal government to reconsider.
Less than two months ago, the network wrote to numerous federal, provincial and territorial officials, calling for improved access to Novavax and increased awareness.
Comments closed