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Tag: influenza

Covid and Flu Can Triple Your Risk of Heart Attack

The risk of a heart attack triples within the first few weeks after a Covid-19 infection, the study suggested, and quadruples in the month after a flu infection. The study, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, was a large review and analysis of existing research.

“It endorses a general idea that we’ve been thinking about and talking about for the past several years — that infections are generally not benign,” said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, a senior clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, who was not involved in the study.

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Pharmacists urge vaccination as fewer than half of Canadians plan to get their flu or COVID-19 shots this fall

October 28, 2025 (Ottawa): As Canada enters another respiratory virus season, pharmacists are urging Canadians to protect themselves and their communities as new polling shows vaccination intentions remain low.

According to a new national survey conducted by Abacus Data for the Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA), 43% of Canadians plan to get their seasonal flu shot, and 29% intend to receive a COVID-19 vaccine this fall. Most concerning, nearly 4 in 10 Canadians (39%) say they don’t plan to get either vaccine.

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Health authority firms up Yellowknife flu and Covid-19 clinic dates

Walk-in clinics for the flu and Covid-19 vaccine open in Yellowknife later in October, the NWT’s health authority confirmed in a schedule issued late last week.

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Quezon reinstates mandatory face masks amid flu-like illnesses spike

LUCENA CITY — Citing a spike in influenza-like illnesses, Quezon Governor Angelina Tan has reinstated the mandatory wearing of face masks.

“Due to the increasing number of cases of illnesses such as colds, coughs, influenza-like illness, and severe respiratory infections like community-acquired pneumonia—and in accordance with Executive Order No. DHT-60—the wearing of face masks is hereby strictly mandated in all indoor settings, as well as in outdoor areas where physical distancing cannot be observed,” Tan, a medical doctor, said in a Facebook post on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 19.

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Federal Contract for up to $40 Million Fuels Research to Revolutionize Clean Indoor Air and Defend Against Next Pandemic

When a public building catches fire, its built-in systems automatically respond: Smoke alarms blare, sprinklers kick on, and occupants quickly evacuate.

But what if the life-threatening danger isn’t fire but invisible airborne contaminants that can make occupants sick? Could a similar smart-building system monitor and improve the quality of the air indoors, where Americans spend 90 percent of their time?

With a contract for up to $40 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), an ambitious multi-institutional research team led by Virginia Tech and including researchers at the University of California, Davis, aims to create just such a system.

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Here’s when you can get flu and COVID-19 vaccines in B.C.

As respiratory illness season approaches, B.C. will begin rolling out its annual vaccination campaign for COVID-19 and influenza.

British Columbians began receiving notifications with a link to book vaccine appointments on Oct. 7 and they will continue to be sent out into November.

Appointments for both influenza and COVID-19 shots will begin on Oct. 14, starting with those at highest risk of severe illness.

Both vaccines are available for free for anyone older than six months.

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Nova Scotians can now book COVID-19, flu vaccine appointments

Nova Scotia residents can now book appointments for the COVID-19 and influenza vaccines.

The Nova Scotia government says the free vaccines are recommended for everyone aged six months and older.

Nova Scotians can book an appointment with their family doctor, nurse practitioner or family practice nurse, or at their local pharmacy, public health office or mobile unit.

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Quebec launches fall vaccination campaign: COVID-19 shots no longer free for all

Quebecers can now book their appointments as the province’s fall vaccination campaign is underway but unlike previous years the COVID-19 shot is no longer free for all.

Unless an individual is part of a high-risk group, the Association québécoise des pharmaciens propriétaires (AQPP) had said that the cost for a vaccine dose will range between $150 and $180.

The COVID-19 vaccine remains free of charge to:

  • Immunocompromised individuals or have chronic illnesses
  • People aged 65 and older
  • On dialysis
  • Residents of long-term care facilities (CHSLDs)
  • Private seniors’ residences (RPAs)
  • Adults living in remote and isolated areas
  • Healthcare workers
  • Pregnant individuals
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The Moderna plant in Laval delivers its first COVID-19 vaccines

Moderna’s Laval plant has delivered its first doses of messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccines. The federal government hopes that the plant, which was built at a cost of $180 million with a $25 million investment from Quebec, will enable Canada to achieve pharmaceutical self-sufficiency.

“We will never find ourselves in this situation again,” said Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry Mélanie Joly at a press conference on Friday, recalling that Canada had to rely on the United States, the European Union, and India for its vaccine supply during the pandemic.

“We are building a strong industrial capacity, a sovereign industrial capacity, which will ensure that we are not dependent on other countries for our vaccine production.”

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Looking for your next COVID-19 or flu shot? Here’s when you can get it in Ontario

The Ontario government has released its schedule for fall immunization programs as it encourages residents to get flu and COVID-19 vaccinations.

In a media release on Thursday, the province said free flu and COVID-19 shots will be available to Ontarians as of Oct. 27 at participating pharmacies, some public health units and doctor’s offices.

Health Minister Sylvia Jones said in the release that Ontario is working with health-care partners to ensure immunizations are available and accessible to all.

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Bird Flu May Be Airborne on Dairy Farms, Scientists Report

The bird flu virus that has beset dairy farms since early last year may be spreading through the air in so-called milking parlors and through contaminated wastewater, as well as from milking equipment, scientists have found.

The Department of Agriculture has said that the virus spreads primarily from milking equipment or is carried by dairy workers and vehicles traveling between farms.

But in the new study, scientists found live virus in the air of milking facilities, suggesting that cows and farmworkers might have become infected by inhaling the pathogen. The virus may also spread by water used to clean cattle barns or contaminated with discarded milk.

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‘Sleeping’ cancer cells in the lungs can be roused by COVID and flu

Hidden in the lungs of some breast cancer survivors are tumour cells that can remain dormant for decades — until they one day trigger a relapse. Now, experiments in mice show that these rogue cells can be roused from their slumber by common respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19 or the flu.

The findings, published in Nature on 30 July1, seem to extend to humans too: data from thousands of people show that infection with the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is linked with a nearly twofold increase in cancer-related death, possibly helping to explain why cancer death rates increased early during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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We will not stay silent on vaccines, say leaders of five major U.S. medical associations

The authors are the presidents of American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Physicians, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Let us introduce ourselves. We are the doctors you trust with your health and the health of your family across every stage of life, from the first checkups in infancy and childhood, to health care during pregnancy and adulthood, through management of chronic illness and aging. We are family physicians, pediatricians, internal medicine physicians, OB-GYNs, and infectious disease experts. Our commitment is not to politics, but to the absolute well-being of our patients and populations, and to providing them with best evidence-based health care.

We have an urgent, united message: Immunizations work, they are very effective and safe, and they save lives. Vaccines are among the most rigorously studied and effective tools in public health. Through widespread immunization, we have eradicated debilitating and fatal diseases that once caused serious illness, hospitalization, and death for millions of people.

But today, that legacy is at serious risk.

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Ottawa: Contact councillors — save our wastewater monitoring!

📣 Let municipal councillors know you want funding for wastewater monitoring to continue

✉️ Send letters to municipal councillors in Ottawa to voice your support for wastewater monitoring. Use our online tool to send emails.

Why take action? The funding for Ottawa’s wastewater monitoring program is currently set to expire in September 2025. Wastewater monitoring is an essential public health tool that provides insights into the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses in Ottawa. We need an early warning system to inform everyone about the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 subvariants, influenza, avian flu, RSV, mpox, and other viruses.

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F.D.A. Cancels Meeting of Vaccine Experts Scheduled to Advise on Flu Shots

A panel of scientific experts that advises the Food and Drug Administration on vaccine policy — and that has been the target of criticism from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — learned on Wednesday that its upcoming meeting to discuss next year’s flu vaccines had been canceled.

The F.D.A. sent an email to members of the panel, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, on Monday afternoon informing them of the cancellation, according to a senior official familiar with the decision. There was no reason given. The panel was to meet on March 13.

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Trump administration yanks CDC flu vaccine campaign

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is stopping a successful flu vaccination campaign that juxtaposed images of wild animals, such as a lion, with cute counterparts, like a kitten, as an analogy for how immunization can help tame the flu.

The news was shared with staff during a meeting on Wednesday, according to two CDC staffers who spoke with NPR on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, and a recording reviewed by NPR.

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U.S. hasn’t sent essential seasonal flu data to WHO ahead of key vaccine meeting

Seasonal flu vaccines need to be updated each year because the virus changes so frequently. But the U.S. hasn’t contributed its information on what’s spreading there since January, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said.

For seasonal influenza, which forced schools to shut down in some American states earlier this month, the data isn’t being shared, Dr. Wenqing Zhang, head of the WHO’s global influenza program, told journalists in a webinar on Wednesday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) normally participate in global discussions hosted by WHO on influenza vaccinations twice a year.

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Urgent CDC Data and Analyses on Influenza and Bird Flu Go Missing as Outbreaks Escalate

Sonya Stokes, an emergency room physician in the San Francisco Bay Area, braces herself for a daily deluge of patients sick with coughs, soreness, fevers,…

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