When vaccines against COVID-19 first became available in Canada, public service announcements flooded radio and TV broadcasts and repeatedly popped up online and across social media feeds.
More than 80 per cent of people in Canada responded, lining up at mass vaccination clinics or booking appointments for their first two doses.
Federal, provincial and territorial governments’ public awareness campaigns continued over the next few years, actively promoting booster shots to protect against waning immunity — but the uptake was considerably lower.
Now, there are two new COVID-19 vaccines — reformulated by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna — to fight the XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariant that has become dominant across the country. Yet despite the fact every province and territory now has at least one updated mRNA vaccine in hand, some experts say public awareness efforts to drive vaccine uptake aren’t what they used to be.
Doctors say it’s vital to get this version of the vaccine because it offers protection against the subvariant driving a current rise in COVID-19 cases and also because most Canadians are well past the six-month mark when immunity fades after previous shots or infections.
“It seems to me that we are sort of experiencing COVID amnesia,” said Dr. Nazeem Muhajarine, professor of community health and epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan.
Overall, communications efforts to break through that “amnesia” and get across the importance of getting the vaccine have been “less than optimal,” he said.
“This fall, we are at a quite a different place in relation to COVID-19 than in each of the three previous falls — we are in a better place, but we are not in a completely safe place,” said Muhajarine, who is also a researcher with Canada’s Coronavirus Variants Rapid Response Network.
Provinces and territories now have information posted on their websites about who is eligible to get the updated COVID-19 vaccine, where to get it and links to book appointments or find participating pharmacies.
But those websites require people to already be “motivated” to seek out a shot, Muhajarine said.
British Columbia’s system is an example of a more proactive approach, he said.
Everyone in B.C. who got their primary COVID-19 vaccine series gets a text or email message informing them when it’s their turn to get the new shot, the province’s Health Minister Adrian Dix told The Canadian Press in an interview.
People can click through to book their appointment immediately, Dix said, noting that the message also reminds them to get their flu shot, which can be booked at the same time.
The invitations to book have been sent out “in order of vulnerability,” he said, with the first messages going to health-care workers and long-term care residents, followed by seniors and people who have chronic conditions that make them especially vulnerable to serious illness. After that, the general public has started receiving invitations.
Dix estimated that about 144,000 invitations for COVID-19 and flu vaccinations are sent out per day in B.C.
The minister didn’t comment on whether the budget for advertising and promoting the COVID-19 vaccine was similar to previous efforts, but said “the text (and email) messages are an invitation system which serve as the best possible promotion.”
In an email response to The Canadian Press, the Public Health Agency of Canada said that provincial and territorial governments are responsible for their own advertising campaigns to promote vaccines.
But the agency said it is also promoting the updated COVID-19 vaccine at a national level as part of “three sequenced advertising campaigns this season, one on COVID-19 vaccination, one on seasonal flu and one on personal protective measures.” Its strategy also includes news media outreach, social media campaigns and webinars with health-care professionals.
The agency acknowledged that “the overall advertising budget has decreased in 2023-24” but said its campaigns are “increasingly more targeted to higher risk individuals.”
Local public health units are doing the best they can to increase awareness of the updated COVID-19 vaccine within limited budgets set by provinces and municipalities, said Dr. Thomas Piggott, medical officer of health for Peterborough, Ont.
Piggott and his team are doing both traditional media and social media promotion, including Instagram live sessions where he answers people’s questions about COVID-19, flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and available vaccines.
“Capacity continues to be a challenge because public health continues to be grossly underfunded in comparison to other parts of, you know, public service and the health-care system,” he said, noting there’s no word if the additional COVID-19 funding given to public health units during the pandemic will continue past the end of this year.
Dr. Vinita Dubey, associate medical officer of health for Toronto Public Health, said they continue to do paid advertising as well as media relations campaigns, but “there’s no question that I think people need to hear it many different ways … in order to get the message to sink (in).”
Toronto Public Health no longer has the same large-scale infrastructure of “community ambassadors” to reach marginalized neighbourhoods and people who speak different languages that it had during previous COVID-19 vaccine awareness campaigns, Dubey said.
It also has fewer people to work on “vaccine confidence teams” who would disseminate accurate information about COVID-19 vaccination and combat the flow of misinformation on social media, she said.
Ensuring people understand the importance of this fall’s COVID-19 vaccine is not just about the amount of promotion — it’s also about describing the shot accurately, Muhajarine said.
Calling the XBB.1.5 vaccine a “booster” is not scientifically accurate and may lead people to underestimate its significance, he said.
“It is not a booster dose. It is a new vaccine reformulation,” Muhajarine said.
“We are not trying to boost previous vaccine doses,” he said. “We are trying to elicit an immune response to this current circulating variant.”
“We don’t say each year, ‘Get your flu booster.’ We say, ‘Get your flu vaccine.’”
Dubey agreed.
“When you hear the word ‘booster’ you might think, ‘oh well, I already got a bunch of vaccines, I’m good,'” she said.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization recommends that everyone six months of age and older get the XBB.1.5 vaccine if it has been six months or longer since their last COVID-19 vaccination or COVID-19 infection.
NACI also recommends the XBB.1.5 vaccine for both children and adults who have never been vaccinated against COVID-19.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2023.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.
It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.
Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”
Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.
Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.
Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”
But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”
“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.
Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.
Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.
Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.
“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.
“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
