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Tag: vaccines

Measles cases in Canada are increasing, Canada’s chief public health officer warns

The number of confirmed measles cases in Canada so far this year is more than three times higher than all infections recorded in 2023, the country’s chief public health officer said as she urged people to ensure their vaccinations are up to date.

The Public Health Agency of Canada is aware of 40 confirmed cases across the country in 2024, Dr. Theresa Tam said on Wednesday.

Tam said she is concerned that not enough school-aged children have been adequately vaccinated against the highly contagious virus.

“I strongly advise parents or caregivers to ensure that children in their care have received all measles vaccines according to schedule,” she said in an interview.

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L’éclosion de rougeole, un symptôme de l’hésitation vaccinale

There have now been around thirty cases of measles in Quebec since the start of the year. While this number may not seem high, measles outbreaks indicate that vaccination coverage is inadequate. Interview with Ève Dubé, anthropologist and holder of the CIHR Applied Public Health Chair in the Anthropology of Vaccination Issues, INSPQ-ULaval.

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Quebecers over 80 are urged to get COVID vaccine booster this spring

Quebec’s immunization committee is recommending a booster dose of the monovalent XBB.1.5 COVID-19 vaccine this spring to seniors ages 80 and over as well as to people who are immunocompromised or on dialysis.

The COVID-19 situation continues to evolve and certain parts of the population remain more vulnerable to the virus, the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) said this week in publishing its vaccination recommendations.

A person vaccinated against COVID-19 is less likely to develop serious illness, but a gradual decrease in this protection is observed over a period of six months following vaccination. A booster dose is therefore necessary to maintain adequate protection, the INSPQ notes in its most recent opinion.

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Vaccination contre la COVID-19: l’INSPQ publie ses recommandations pour le printemps

The COVID-19 situation continues to evolve and some population groups remain more vulnerable to the virus. This week, the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) published its vaccination recommendations for spring 2024.

A person vaccinated against COVID-19 is less likely to develop a serious illness, but a gradual decrease in this protection is observed over a period of six months after vaccination. A booster dose is thus necessary to maintain adequate protection, recalls the INSPQ in its latest opinion.

Serious complications of COVID-19 are much more common in people 80+ years of age. For this age group, about one in 30 infected people must be hospitalized. For those aged 60 to 79, the incidence of hospitalizations and deaths is lower, except for those living with a chronic disease.

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Measles is highly contagious, but vaccine-preventable: A primer on recent outbreaks, transmission, symptoms and complications, including ‘immune amnesia’

Canada is seeing a resurgence of measles, with cases in the first quarter of 2024 already far surpassing the total for all of 2023. There were 12 cases last year, and more than three times that number so far in 2024, with 38 reported as of March 19.

Most of these cases (28) are in Québec, and eight are in Ontario, while Saskatchewan and British Columbia have each reported one case.

As an immunologist with a focus on host-microbe interactions and antiviral immunity, I have been following recent measles outbreaks.

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Video | Four years in, Dr. Raj Bhardwaj discusses how far we’ve come in Canada since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in 2020

CBC Calgary’s weekly health columnist, Dr. Raj Bhardwaj, discusses what we’ve learned and how far we’ve come with science and treatments since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Spring COVID-19 vaccines available April 2 for high-risk New Brunswickers

Spring COVID-19 vaccines will be available April 2 to New Brunswickers considered most at risk of severe illness.

This includes people aged 65 or older, residents of nursing homes and adult residential facilities, and immunocompromised people aged six months or older, the Department of Health said in a news release Monday.

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Radio | Dr. Raj Bhardwaj on COVID-19

It’s been four years since the world shut down due to COVID-19. House doctor Raj Bhardwaj joins us with a look at what we have learned about the virus since those early days.

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High-risk groups can now book spring COVID-19 vaccination

People considered to have the highest risk for severe illness from COVID-19 can now make an appointment online for a spring dose of the vaccine.

The dose will be available from March 25 to May 31.

Those who are eligible to book for the vaccination include:

  • People aged 65 or older;
  • People aged 18 and older living in long-term care, nursing homes, senior congregate living settings or residential care facilities;
  • People who are six months and older who meet the criteria for being moderately to severely immunocompromised due to an underlying condition or treatment;
  • People aged 50 years and older who identify as Black, African Nova Scotian or First Nations.
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Older P.E.I. residents, others at risk, urged to get spring COVID vaccine booster

Prince Edward Islanders should be considering whether they need a COVID vaccine booster before the end of May, says Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Heather Morrison.

In a news release Monday morning, Morrison said the National Advisory Committee on Immunization has released updated guidance on COVID-19 vaccine boosters for this spring.

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Canada heading toward major measles outbreak without vaccine boost, new modelling suggests

As measles cases keep appearing in more parts of the country, new projections suggest there’s a high chance Canada may experience a “sizable outbreak” — with anywhere from dozens to thousands of people infected if the disease strikes communities with low vaccination rates.

As of Friday, at least 31 cases of measles have been reported so far this year across Canada, according to a CBC News tally of provincial and regional figures released by public health teams.

That’s already the largest annual total since 2019 and more than double the number of cases reported last year, as medical experts fear the number will rise while more Canadians travel in and out of the country this month for March break.

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Mask mandate reinstated in some Quebec health facilities following rise in measles cases

New data shows Quebec with 21 measles cases as of Friday 2 p.m., including 15 in Montreal.

According to the CIUSSS de l’Est, health centres in the eastern part of the island have responded by reinstating mask mandates and launching a vaccination campaign in elementary schools.

Notre-Dame and Sainte-Justine Hospitals are also among those requiring patients to wear masks to stop the spread.

“I feel like it’s necessary, especially to protect those who are more vulnerable,” said Montrealer Selena Ringwald. “Masking really doesn’t bother me, even as someone who has breathing issues after having COVID.”

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Doctors urge myth-busting, education to counter misinformation as measles cases rise

It was a horrible thing to see this young girl who was brain dead. She died in that hospital. We were told that one in 1,000 people who got measles had a serious complication and one in 10,000 could die. You think that’s pretty rare but millions of kids got it before vaccination. So even though the percentage was low the absolute numbers were considerable.

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Study of 1 million US kids shows vaccines tied to lower risk of long COVID

A study of 1,037,936 US children seen in 17 healthcare systems across the country shows that COVID-19 vaccines are moderately protective against long COVID: 35% to 45%, with higher rates in adolescents. The study was published today in Pediatrics.

The researchers estimated vaccine effectiveness (VE) against long COVID in children aged 5 to 17 years. Though severe COVID-19 cases are less common in children than in adults, persistent symptoms in children do occur.

“It is difficult to establish how much this results from differential reporting of symptoms at different ages, greater difficulty distinguishing long COVID from other childhood illnesses or effects of the pandemic (eg, disruption of seasonal viral patterns, or of school progress,” the authors wrote.

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Four provinces confirm measles cases, including rare case in fully vaccinated man

Seventeen cases of measles have been confirmed in Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia — more than half of those in the Montreal area, while one Ontario case has been linked to a high school.

Quebec public health director Dr. Luc Boileau confirmed 10 cases on Monday, almost all of them involving children and making Montreal the country’s epicentre. He said only three of the cases were linked to travel outside of the country, indicating community spread in and around the city.

Public Health Ontario confirmed five cases of measles and said all but one involved travel.

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Researchers investigate a man who received 217 Covid vaccinations

Researchers at FAU find no negative effects on immune system

Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen have examined a man who has received more than 200 vaccinations against Covid-19. They learned of his case via newspaper reports. Until now, it has been unclear what affects hypervaccination such as this would have on the immune system. Some scientists were of the opinion that immune cells would become less effective after becoming used to the antigens. This proved not to be the case in the individual in question: his immune system is fully functional. Certain immune cells and antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 are even present in considerably higher concentrations than is the case with people who have only received three vaccinations. The results have been published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases.

More than 60 million people in Germany have been vaccinated against SARS-Coronavirus 2, the majority of them several times. The man who has now been examined by researchers at FAU claims to have received 217 vaccinations for private reasons. There is official confirmation for 134 of these vaccinations.

“We learned about his case via newspaper articles,” explains Privatdozent Dr. Kilian Schober from the Institute of Microbiology – Clinical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene (director Prof. Dr. Christian Bogdan). “We then contacted him and invited him to undergo various tests in Erlangen. He was very interested in doing so.” Schober and his colleagues wanted to know what consequences hypervaccination such as this would have. How does it alter the immune response?

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