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.
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 closedOn 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 closedNot 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 closedThe 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 closedThe 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 closedIt’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 closedAs 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 closedNearly half of people over 80 in Ottawa have not received the latest COVID-19 vaccine, leaving them at risk for severe outcomes if they become infected, Ottawa’s medical officer of health is warning.
Comments closedWith vaccination numbers lagging and the holiday season approaching, health experts are calling on Albertans to roll up their sleeves for their flu and COVID-19 shots.
As of Nov. 25, 17 people in Alberta had died of the flu during this respiratory virus season, and close to 500 were hospitalized, according to provincial data. In the same time frame, 245 deaths and almost 2,300 hospitalizations were tied to COVID-19.
Comments closedHealth Canada has authorized an adapted vaccine from Novavax to prevent COVID-19 in people age 12 and older.
The vaccine uses a traditional approach to defend the body against COVID.
It contains a version of the viral spike protein and is also authorized as a booster for those 18 and older, according to Health Canada’s webpage.
Comments closedWith winter increasing the chance of contracting influenza and COVID-19, the Department of Health says it’s important that people get their shots.
Comments closedThe Earth is flat. We have been secretly contacted by intelligent beings from other planets. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin did not land on the moon in 1969. They may sound like bizarre statements, but a new poll suggests a sizable number of Canadians believe in these and other conspiracy theories.
Comments closedThere are currently two dozen COVID-19 outbreaks reported at long-term care homes across Nova Scotia, and some health-care officials are concerned about a lack of COVID protocols.
Comments closedA headline shared online falsely claims that Iceland has banned COVID-19 vaccines and cites sudden deaths for which there is no evidence, according to the Icelandic national health authority.
Iceland has not banned COVID vaccines and “there are no soaring sudden deaths,” Guðrún Aspelund, chief epidemiologist at the Icelandic Directorate of Health, told Reuters in a Nov. 29 email.
Comments closedRespiratory viruses are on the rise in Manitoba and the province is reducing recommended intervals between COVID-19 vaccines.
Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba’s chief provincial public health officer, said residents are now eligible to receive an updated vaccine three months after their previous shot.
Comments closedTwo doses of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine were 40% effective against emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalization in preschool-aged children during a period of Omicron variant predominance, estimates a test-negative, case-control study using data from the New Vaccine Surveillance Network (NVSN).
Comments closedThe Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) is closing its mass vaccination clinic in mid-December.
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