B.C. has launched its annual fall immunization campaign amid an early start to the cold and flu season.
New this year, the province will be offering an enhanced flu shot and an immunization for RSV for seniors.
The B.C. Centre for Disease Control said the early rise in cases is predominantly being driven by this year’s flu strain — H1N1, or influenza A — which is known to peak earlier and cause more severe illness.
Comments closedThe Ontario government is launching its fall immunization program ahead of flu season and some people can get their shots starting this week.
In a news release, the Ministry of Health said an initial supply of COVID-19 and flu vaccines will be available for high-risk and priority groups who live, work or study in Ontario starting Monday. Those individuals include:
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 closedYears after the virus that causes COVID-19 kicked off a global pandemic, it’s still sending thousands of Canadians into hospital each year alongside other respiratory infections — despite a suite of vaccines that can slash someone’s risk of serious illness.
Striking new data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) shows hospitalization rates for vaccine-preventable respiratory diseases more than doubled in 2024 compared to pre-pandemic levels, all while vaccination rates are backsliding.
There were 142 hospitalizations for every 100,000 Canadians that year, the data shows, up from roughly 66 per 100,000 in 2019.
Comments closedAs 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 closedHealth 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 closedCanadian 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.”
Comments closedWhen 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.
Comments closedWhen Ontario rolls out its fall vaccination campaign at pharmacies, doctor’s offices and clinics across the province in the coming weeks, it will be bucking a trend.
At a time when both Alberta and Quebec have stopped funding COVID vaccines for the general public, limiting them to higher risk populations, and access to COVID vaccines is becoming limited in the United States, Ontario is moving in another direction.
The fall vaccination campaign, beginning in October, includes free access to an updated COVID-19 vaccine for the general public as well as expanded access to a vaccine to prevent RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) for older adults, and the flu vaccine.
Comments closedBeginning this fall, all Ontarians 75 and older will be eligible for a free shot that protects against respiratory syncytial virus.
Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones is scheduled to announce the expansion of public coverage for RSV vaccines on Wednesday, according to a Ministry of Health release that The Globe and Mail obtained in advance.
Until now, the Ontario government only paid for the RSV vaccine for seniors who were 60 and older and considered high risk, such as transplant recipients, dialysis patients and nursing home residents.
Comments closed✉️ 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.
Comments closedComments closedSimply put, COVID-19 infections weaken our immune systems. This makes us more prone to reinfection with SARS-CoV-2, infections with other viruses (e.g. RSV), reactivation of dormant viral infections (e.g. shingles, Herpes-Zoster virus), bacterial infections (Group A strep,TB) and even rare fungal infections. To make matters worse, the infections themselves may also be more severe. Being infected with SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses or bacteria at the same time can also make things worse, in adults as well as children.
VANCOUVER – New data shared by British Columbia’s Centre for Disease Control shows the province has one of the worst flu rates in Canada, as a holiday-season spike in respiratory illnesses continues.
But the data also shows the province has one of the lowest COVID-19 test positivity rates in the country, at about half the national rate.
Dr. Jennifer Vines, interim medical director for public health response at the B.C. CDC, says respiratory illness has been “steadily climbing” over the past several weeks, with RSV and influenza “driving the increase right now.”
Comments closedVICTORIA – Medical masks are again required in British Columbia health-care facilities as provincial authorities say cases of respiratory illness are rising.
A statement from B.C.’s Health Ministry says workers, volunteers and visitors in facilities operated by provincial health authorities must wear masks in areas where patients are receiving care in order to prevent the spread of the flu, RSV and COVID-19.
The requirement spans hospitals, long-term care and assisted living facilities, outpatient clinics and ambulatory care settings, and it’s expected to remain in effect until the risk of illness decreases, likely in the spring.
Comments closedMasks must again be worn in health-care facilities across B.C., according to the province’s Health Ministry.
In an email to CBC News, the Ministry of Health said the requirement came into effect on Jan. 6, and everyone in health-care facilities, including staff, patients, visitors and volunteers, must wear medical masks “in areas where patients are actively seeking care.”
The move is in response to what the ministry says is a rise in influenza and RSV infections in B.C. COVID-19, it said, is “stable but showing early signs of an increase.”
Comments closedAs B.C. begins the busy holiday season of social gatherings, health officials are reporting a steady increase in respiratory illness, including respiratory syncytial virus and walking pneumonia in children.
RSV is up 10.3 per cent over last week, predominantly in children in the Lower Mainland, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control reported in an update Friday.
Comments closedA new study published in BMC Cardiovascular Disorders shows that pediatric and young adult COVID-19 patients are more at risk for cardiac complications than flu or RSV patients of the same age.
The study was based on hospitalized US patients from 2020 through 2021 tracked through the National Inpatient Sample. In total 212,655 respiratory virus admissions were recorded, including 85,055 from COVID-19, 103,185 from RSV, and 24,415 from influenza.
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