Tag: vaccines

Published by: CNN
Published on: January 2, 2024
By Deidre McPhillips, Amanda Musa, Carma Hassan

As seasonal virus activity surges across the United States, experts stress the importance of preventive measures – such as masking and vaccination – and the value of treatment for those who do get sick.

Tens of thousands of people have been admitted to hospitals for respiratory illness each week this season. During the week ending December 23, there were more than 29,000 patients admitted with Covid-19, about 15,000 admitted with the flu and thousands more with respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Comments closed

United States

Less than 5% of US preschool cohort hospitalized for COVID were fully vaccinated, study finds

Published December 29, 2023

Published by: CIDRAP
Published on: December 29, 2023
By Mary Van Beusekom

Only 4.5% of a cohort of pediatric COVID-19 patients admitted to US hospitals during the period of Omicron predominance had completed their primary COVID-19 vaccine series, and 7.0% had started but didn’t finish the series, The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal reports.

The study team, led by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers, enrolled 597 vaccine-eligible COVID-19 inpatients aged 8 months to 4 years at 28 hospitals participating in the Overcoming COVID-19 network from September 2022 to May 2023. A total of 62.1% of patients were aged 8 months to 1 year, and 37.9% were aged 2 to 4 years.

Comments closed

Waterloo Region

Waterloo region’s COVID booster rate lags behind national average

Published December 26, 2023

Published by: CBC News
Published on: December 26, 2023
By Kate Bueckert

The number of people in Waterloo region who have received their most recent COVID-19 booster shot is just under 11 per cent, which is below the national average.

The region’s vaccination dashboard shows 10.9 per cent of people in the community are up-to-date on their vaccinations as of Dec. 7. The region notes “up to date” means a person has completed their primary series and received a booster dose within the previous six months.

The number of people who have received the updated XBB.1.5 COVID-19 vaccine sits at 10.8 per cent, the region told CBC News in an email.

Comments closed

Hamilton Region

HHS closes urgent care for two days amid staff shortages, congestion at hospitals

Published December 21, 2023

Published by: The Hamilton Spectator
Published on: December 21, 2023
By Joanna Frketich

Staffing shortages will close a Hamilton urgent care centre for two days at the same time city emergency departments are becoming increasingly congested with flu, COVID-19 and RSV patients.

With just 13 per cent of Hamiltonians getting a COVID shot in the past six months, local hospitals are bracing for the viral surge to continue climbing over the holidays.

Comments closed

Quebec

Video: 1 million Quebecers sick right now

Published December 20, 2023

Published by: CTV News
Published on: December 20, 2023

Infectious diseases expert Dr. Donald Vinh on the high number of viruses circulating in Quebec right now and how people can avoid them.

Comments closed

vaccines

Just 15% of Canadians got updated COVID vaccines this fall, new figures show

Published December 20, 2023

Published by: CBC News
Published on: December 20, 2023
By Lauren Pelley

Canadians raced to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in the first years of the pandemic, but data suggests there’s far less of a rush to get the latest shots available this fall.

Federal figures show only 15 per cent of the population aged five and up had received an updated vaccine by Dec. 3. And while older age groups had higher uptake rates, more than half of higher-risk older adults still hadn’t gotten a dose by early December, either.

Comments closed

Quebec

One million Quebecers infected with respiratory viruses

Published December 19, 2023

Published by: Montreal Gazette
Published on: December 19, 2023
By Aaron Derfel

Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé and his chief public health officer warned Tuesday that the province is facing a major COVID-19 resurgence, coupled with a spike in influenza cases.

“We have a lot of vulnerable people that (are being hospitalized) because of influenza and because of COVID, and they should have been vaccinated,” Dubé said at a news conference.

“I think that the situation over the next few weeks will deteriorate. Let’s be clear about that.”

Comments closed

Rwanda

BioNTech aims to start mRNA vaccine output in Rwanda in 2025

Published December 18, 2023

Published by: Reuters
Published on: December 18, 2023

COVID-19 vaccine maker BioNTech (22UAy.DE) aims to start production at its mRNA vaccine factory site in Rwanda in 2025, company officials said on Monday, the first foreign company mRNA vaccine manufacturing site on the continent.

The German company’s first modular factory elements, based on shipping containers, were delivered to the Kigali construction site in March and were then assembled into so-called BioNTainers.

Comments closed

Ontario

How deadly has COVID been in 2023? Here’s what the Ontario numbers are telling us

Published December 16, 2023

Published by: Toronto Star
Published on: December 16, 2023
By Megan Ogilvie, Kenyon Wallace

More Ontarians have died of COVID-19 in a three-month span this fall than the number of people killed last year on Ontario highways — a comparison one researcher is using to illustrate the stark and ongoing toll of the virus.

Data from Public Health Ontario shows that 574 people died of COVID between Sept. 3 and Dec. 9. Last year, the Ontario Provincial Police reported that about 350 people died in motor vehicle crashes on OPP-patrolled roads.

Comments closed

Quebec

En plus de la COVID-19, la grippe H1N1 inquiète

Published December 14, 2023

Published by: La Presse
Published on: December 14, 2023
By Louise Leduc, Pierre-André Normandin

Since October, only 16% of Quebecers have been vaccinated against COVID-19, and 17.5% against influenza, this year’s flu (H1N1) that Public Health still fears. The main concern of authorities? The fact that just over one in two Quebecers, among those aged 70 and over, was vaccinated.

Comments closed

Waterloo Region

Wastewater tests showing high levels of COVID and flu circulating in Waterloo region

Published December 11, 2023

Published by: CBC News
Published on: December 11, 2023
By Aastha Shetty

When the pandemic started, the province was testing the population and updating the number of COVID cases daily.

But four years on, testing has stalled and the main way to get a snapshot of the COVID picture is through wastewater.

Comments closed

New Zealand

Warning sounded over any moves to defund Covid-19 vaccine

Published December 11, 2023

Published by: 1 News
Published on: December 11, 2023

A vaccinologist is warning that restricting access to the Covid-19 vaccine could send a message that it is no longer important.

Covid-19 vaccines and boosters have always been provided free-of-charge – but that funding commitment is due to expire at the end of June next year.

It is possible the Government could move to a more targeted approach like with flu vaccines – where only vulnerable populations get them for free.

Comments closed

smallpox eradication

Briggs and Rutty: Why we should declare a formal ‘Smallpox Eradication Day’

Published December 9, 2023

Published by: Ottawa Citizen
Published on: December 9, 2023
By Ryan Briggs, Christopher J. Rutty

On Dec. 9, 1979, the Global Commission for the Certification of Smallpox Eradication declared its job complete. This marked the end of a scourge that lasted thousands of years and killed more people than all the wars in recorded history.

Comments closed

Ontario

‘Wave after wave after wave’: Health officials warn high COVID-19 rates could continue

Published December 8, 2023

Published by: CTV News
Published on: December 8, 2023
By Bryan Bicknell

Not enough people are getting vaccinated for COVID-19. That’s according to a Western University professor involved in the Ontario COVID-19 Waste Water Survey Program. “What…

Comments closed

Medicago

Medicago : Mitsubishi Chemical redonne 40 M $ et transfère la propriété intellectuelle

Published December 8, 2023

Published by: Radio-Canada
Published on: December 8, 2023
By Érik Chouinard

The Government of Canada has reached an agreement with Mitsubishi Chemical Group Corporation (MCG), Medicago’s parent company. This company will have to pay $40 million in addition to transferring the intellectual property developed by Medicago to the new Quebec company Aramis Biotechnologies.

Comments closed

Northwest Territories

Keep trying, says NWT as residents wait weeks for flu shots

Published December 8, 2023

Published by: Cabin Radio
Published on: December 8, 2023
By Ollie Williams

The NWT government says it’s adding flu shot appointments as fast as it can – but some residents are being told the next opening isn’t until January.

Earlier this week, the territory’s chief public health officer said there had been a significant increase in flu across the NWT but particularly in Yellowknife. Wastewater samples also suggest a steady presence of Covid-19 throughout the fall and into winter.

Comments closed

Opinion: This is a pandemic of attrition

Electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles. Virus particles are shown emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab. Image captured and colourized at NIAID’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana. Photo by: NIAID. Creative Commons CC BY 2.0 DEED Attribution 2.0 Generic license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/.

pandemic response

Opinion: This is a pandemic of attrition

Published December 7, 2023

Published by: Calgary Herald
Published on: December 7, 2023
By Joe Vipond, Julia M. Wright, Dan Furst

It’s time for our society to admit that we’ve made a mistake and change course. The COVID-is-mild experiment, despite the wishing and the hoping, has been a tragic failure. We aren’t just accepting ongoing hospitalizations and deaths to protect the economy, but also ignoring the social and economic costs of continuing high levels of acute infections. Worse still are more cases of Long COVID, a condition that takes many people entirely out of the workforce. And with every wave, the staffing attrition worsens.

Comments closed

United States

‘A vicious cycle’: Low Covid-19 vaccination rates lead to fewer doses at pediatric offices. Now, some parents can’t find it

Published December 7, 2023

Published by: CNN
Published on: December 7, 2023
By Amanda Musa

As of November 25, less than 3% of children 6 months to 4 years and 10% of children 12 to 17 have received the new shot, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Comments closed

Tag: vaccines

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Still COVIDing Canada Posts