After two long years of the COVID-19 pandemic, an infectious disease expert is warning that Canada and other parts of the world may continue to experience waves of cases until the issue of vaccine inequity is addressed.
Dr. Abdu Sharkawy told CTV’s Your Morning on Tuesday it is important for Canadians to not get ahead of themselves in the fight against COVID-19.
“We still have to recognize that it is a pandemic. That means that, until we satisfy the issue of vaccine inequity, which is really problematic across much of the world… it’s not going to be endemic,” Sharkawy said.
“There’s going to be more waves that we unfortunately have in store if we continue to ignore that.”
Sharkawy said bringing the pandemic to an end requires a global effort to ensure everyone has access to vaccines. Once that is achieved, he says the pandemic will change.
“[If] we can marshal the will and sincerity to help other parts of the world… then it will become endemic and at that point, we can look to this becoming something that is potentially seasonal, potentially not that much different from the annual flu vaccine,” he explained.
However, Sharkawy says “we are a ways away from that” despite high vaccine uptake in Canada, and Canadians still have “our work cut out for us” amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
Reflecting on two years since the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Canada, Sharkawy said he feels “some degree of resignation.”
“It’s a bit surreal that I’m here almost two years later on a COVID ward,” he said. “That’s very disappointing in the sense that I think we knew what tools we had available in terms of vaccines, in terms of improving ventilation, in terms of better masks and testing, and unfortunately, we’re still here.”
It was the evening of Jan. 23, 2020, when the team at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre decided to admit a 56-year-old patient who came into the hospital ER with what seemed to be mild pneumonia.
While the patient wasn’t that sick and might otherwise have been sent home, his chest X-rays were unusual and he had just returned from China, where the novel coronavirus was rapidly spreading.
Less than two days after admission to Sunnybrook, the man would become “Patient Zero” — the first COVID-19 case in Canada.
Despite this, Sharkawy says he is hopeful for the year ahead, given “how incredibly effective vaccines” have shown at keeping Canadians out of hospitals, as well as the ongoing development of monoclonal antibodies and other therapy treatments in the fight against COVID-19.
Since Canada’s first case of COVID-19, Sharkawy says the country has learned a lot not only about the virus itself, but also its impact on vulnerable communities, such as those in long-term care, homeless populations, and racialized groups.
“This pandemic has really been an eye-opener in terms of all of the frailty that exists in those populations and it’s time to finally invest in them and take care of them the right way,” he said.
Sharkawy said the pandemic has shown that health care and community networks in Canada need to be “restructured” to better help these groups moving forward.
“When we get ahead of the game, and we try to target at-risk populations and we do things like… [vaccine] programs that meet people in need and do it with limited barriers in place, we can see tremendous success,” he said.
Sharkawy noted lessons have also been learned in how a proactive response to implementing public health measures can help save lives.
“Waiting for problems to arise, like multiple outbreaks or hospitalizations and ICU admissions and deaths is not the way to go, and unfortunately, we’ve been guilty of that a lot,” he said.
Moving forward, Sharkawy says governments need to invest more in the health-care system and its staff to ensure hospitals don’t become overwhelmed in the case of another, future pandemic.
He added that further messaging needs to refrain from judgment in continuing to increase vaccine uptake for those who may be hesitant.
“I think the lesson here is that we need to help each other, we need to cast aside partisanship and hyperpolarized discourse as that doesn’t help,” Sharkawy said.
“When we break down barriers and not look at people as labels, not saying people are fear mongers versus anti-vaxxers, but instead just meet them as people… there’s a lot to be gained.”
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Darcy Kuemper made 16 saves for his first shutout of the season and 32nd overall, helping the Los Angeles Kings beat the Nashville Predators 3-0 on Monday night.
Adrian Kempe had a goal and an assist and Anze Kopitar and Kevin Fiala also scored. The Kings have won two of their last three.
Juuse Saros made 24 saves for the Predators. They are 1-2-1 in their last four.
Kopitar opened the scoring with 6:36 remaining in the opening period. Saros denied the Kings captain’s first shot, but Kopitar collected the rebound below the goal line and banked it off the netminder’s skate.
Fiala, a former Predator, made it 2-0 35 seconds into the third.
The Kings held Nashville to just three third-period shots on goal, the first coming with 3:55 remaining and Saros pulled for an extra attacker.
Elsewhere in the NHL on Monday:
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DEVILS 3 OILERS 0
EDMONTON, Alta. (AP) — Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his NHL career, helping the New Jersey Devils close their western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored. The Devils improved to 8-5-2. They have won three of their last four after a four-game skid.
Calvin Pickard made 13 saves for Edmonton. The Oilers had won two straight.
