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Health experts urging quicker vaccine rollout as COVID-19 cases surge, doses sit in freezers – CTV News

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TORONTO —
Health experts and seniors advocacy groups are urging provinces to speed up COVID-19 vaccinations as coronavirus infections surge following the holiday season.

Since the first vaccine was administered three weeks ago, on Dec. 14, slightly more than 121,000 people have received Pfizer or Moderna shots. That’s 0.319 per cent of the Canadian population. As of Monday afternoon, only Prince Edward Island had administered doses to more than 1 per cent of its population, according to the CTVNews.ca vaccine tracker. In Ontario, more than 110,000 doses — or more than 70 per cent of the province’s supply — sit in freezers, with approximately 42,000 administered in three weeks.

“Vaccine helps nobody if it’s in the closet,” Laura Tamblyn Watts, CEO of CanAge, a national seniors advocacy organization, told CTV News Channel on Monday.

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“This needs to be a 24-7 initiative as we have seen in other countries. Vaccine spread is what we need to do. We need to make sure that it gets into the arms of people who need it because the virus does not stop for holidays.”

The calls for a speedier rollout come following weeks of an intensified second wave of COVID-19 infections around the country that has included new outbreaks in long-term care and retirement homes where much of Canada’s most vulnerable people live. Since mid-December, Canadian health officials have recorded more than 130,000 new infections. The majority of those infections have been in Ontario and Quebec, two provinces that have differing immunizations strategies. In Quebec, health officials have suggested they may forego second doses of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines in favour of immunizing more people with available shipments.

DOSING TWO-SHOT VACCINES

It’s a strategy that has faced a range of reactions from health experts, some of whom say the idea could help speed up immunity and others who say it’s too risky.

Quebec’s plan to speed up vaccination by delaying or even eliminating the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines could backfire, said Dr. Colin Furness, an epidemiologist and assistant professor at the University of Toronto, who said that strategy uses people as “experimental subjects” without their consent.

“We also think that giving people partial immunity might actually provide an excellent opportunity for COVID-19 to mutate around the vaccine,” he told CTV News Channel on Monday. “I think that we need to proceed with what’s been proven.”

Other experts have said that using up all current shipments, rather than holding back some doses for later, is a more appropriate strategy. Infectious disease expert Dr. Sumon Chakrabarti said everyone should get both, but the one-dose strategy could work in the meantime to speed things up.

“Having many people that are partially protected, I think, is better on the whole than having a few people that are fully protected and still a lot of people who are vulnerable,” he told CTV News Channel.

MANAGING COLD LOGISTICS

One of the major slow-downs with the initial shipments of COVID-19 vaccines was the complicated storage requirements of the Pfizer-BioNTech product, which needs to be kept at temperatures between -60 C and -80 C until injection. Ontario has been particularly cautious with this guidance compared to Quebec, British Columbia and other jurisdictions around the world, said Dr. Samir Sinha, the Director of Geriatrics at Mount Sinai and the University Health Network in Toronto.

While much has been made about the difficulty of transporting the Pfizer vaccine, Dr. Sinha says that might not have been necessary.

“When you actually read the product monograph, you can actually transport these vaccines with dry ice and other things,” he said, adding that West Virginia vaccinated all 214 of its long-term care facilities by Dec. 30.

“If West Virginia can get it done, why can’t we get this done in Ontario?” he said on CTV News Channel on Monday.

“We’ve got health professionals who’ve been raising their hands saying ‘If it’s just a matter of you need more people, we’re willing to do this 24-7.’” 

IMMUNIZING LONG-TERM CARE

Long-term care and retirement homes have facilitated mass immunizations before, as recently as last fall, noted Sinha. In October, there was concern that those facilities would bear the brunt of what some called a “twindemic” of influenza and COVID-19. Instead, provinces mobilized long-term care and retirement homes quickly.

“These homes, without a whimper, got all their residents and staff vaccinated within a week or two,” he said. “We have tens of thousands of dose[s] of just the Moderna vaccine that are still sitting in fridges and freezers that have been here long enough.”

Sinha’s is the same message that CanAge CEO Tamblyn Watts has for federal and provincial officials: use the systems that have long been in place.

“This is a vaccine problem, not really a logistics problems,” said Tamblyn Watts. “We have existing systems to put vaccine into people … Get public health involved, get doctors involved, get pharmacists involved. Don’t keep it so off to the side that people can’t get vaccinated.”

‘CUTTING DOWN BUREAUCRACY’

Though much red tape was cut to expedite the development of COVID-19 vaccines in 2020, the distribution of those vaccines in Canada may be facing official procedures contributing to the slow rollout. “There is something to be said about the bureaucracy of what’s been going on recently,” said Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious disease specialist and associate professor at McMaster University in a phone interview with CTVNews.ca on Monday, noting public health protocols, the implementation of registration systems, and the development of teams to go into a variety of health facilities, to name a few procedures.

Compared to other countries, Canada has procured the most vaccine doses per citizen, but is falling behind in the rollout. Israel has vaccinated more than 14 per cent of its population, according to Our World in Data. The U.S. has vaccinated millions, or more than 1.2 per cent of its population. Health officials in Canada could consider looking at global models for the future rollout, particularly models that are “good enough” and not based on “perfection.”

“They don’t necessarily deal with models where there’s perfection around tracking, there’s perfection around registration and all that stuff,” he said. “It gives us a good scope to start looking at how [we can] minimize the bureaucracy in rollout.”

‘THE WAY FORWARD’

The irony of the vaccine rollout is that putting needles into arms is not difficult, added Chagla. While there are certainly human resource and training issues related to staffing and proper care at nursing homes and other facilities, injecting needles is not one of them. 

“Most nursing students and medical students as well as other health professionals — it’s a core competency off the bat,” said Chagla.

Provinces will have to find a way to register individuals quickly and on a mass scale who can help with administering vaccines, but also other health professionals like pharmacy technicians to handle medications appropriately, non-clinical professionals to work through clerical procedures like registration and consent.

“Realistically, there’s a huge human resource potential to tap into to optimize all of that, such that every community has access to vaccine,” he said. 

“Honestly, the way forward is not with hospitals,” he added, though the finicky Pfizer vaccine may be best for hospital use considering it must be stored at extreme cold temperatures. Instead, the rollout of more COVID-19 vaccines, first with Moderna, will depend on more than hospital systems but also public health and primary care, said Chagla.

“Realistically, that Moderna campaign really does need to be taken to communities and engaged at all levels,” he said.

“There is certainly a big lesson to be learned here in that, and a lesson to be learned in cutting down bureaucracy and how to recruit the community appropriately, because there are resources out there.” 

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Kevin Neil Friesen Obituary 2024 – Crossings Funeral Care

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It is with heavy hearts that we announce the peaceful passing of Kevin Neil Friesen age 53 on Thursday, March 28, 2024 at the Bethesda Regional Health Centre.

A funeral service will be held at 2:00 pm on Thursday, April 4, 2024 at the Bothwell Christian Fellowship Church, with viewing one hour prior to the service.

A longer notice to follow.  

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Spring allergies: Where is it worse in Canada? – CTV News

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The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities such as Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.

Daniel Coates, director of Aerobiology Research Laboratories in Ottawa, expects the elevated amounts to continue next week for places, such as most of Ontario, if the temperature continues to rise. Aerobiology creates allergen forecasts based on data it collects from the air on various pollens and mould spores.

Pollens are fertilizing fine powder from certain plants such as trees, grass and weeds. They contain a protein that irritates allergy sufferers.

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Although pollen levels declined after a cold spell in some places, he said they are soaring again across parts of Canada.

“So the worst is definitely British Columbia right now, followed by Ontario and Quebec and then the Prairies and Atlantic Canada for the upcoming weeks,” said Coates in a video interview with CTVNews.ca. “We are seeing pollen pretty much everywhere, including the Maritimes.”

He said pollen has increased over the past 20 years largely due to longer periods of warm weather in Canada.

Meanwhile, the Maritimes is one of the best places to live in Canada if you have seasonal allergies, in part because of its rocky territory, Coates said.

With high levels of cedar and birch pollen, British Columbia is the worst place for allergy sufferers in Canada, he added.

“British Columbia is going strong,” Coates explained, noting the allergy season started “very early” in the province in late January. “It has been going strong since late January, early February and it’s progressing with high levels of pollen, mostly cedar, but birch as well, and birch is highly allergenic.”

Causes of high pollen levels

Coates expects a longer allergy season if the warm weather persists. He notes pollen is increasing in Canada and worldwide, adding that in some cases the allergy season is starting earlier and lasting longer than 15 years ago.

He says tree pollen produced last year is now being released into the air because of warmer weather.

“Mother nature acts like a business,” he said. “So you have cyclical periods where things go up and down. … So when it cooled down a little bit, we saw (pollen) reduce in its levels, but now it’s going to start spiking.”

Along with warmer weather, another factor in higher pollen levels is people planting more male trees in urban areas because they don’t produce flowers and fruits and are less messy as a result, he said. But male trees produce pollen while female ones mostly do not.

Moulds

Coates said moulds aren’t as much of a problem.

“They’ve been mainly at lower levels so far this season,” he explained. “Moulds aren’t as bad in many areas of Canada, but they’re really, really bad in British Columbia.”

In B.C., moulds are worse because of its wet climate and many forested areas, he said.

Coping with allergies

Dr. Blossom Bitting, a naturopathic doctor and herbal medicine expert who works for St. Francis Herb Farm, says a healthy immune system is important to deal with seasonal allergies.

“More from a holistic point of view, we want to keep our immune system strong,” she said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca from Shediac, N.B. “Some would argue allergies are an overactive immune system.”

Bitting said ways to balance and strengthen the immune system include managing stress levels and getting seven to nine hours of restful sleep. “There is some research that shows that higher amounts of emotional stress can also contribute to how much your allergies react to the pollen triggers,” Bitting said.

Eating well by eating more whole foods and less processed foods along with exercising are also important, she added. She recommends foods high in Omega-3 Fatty Acids such as flaxseeds, flaxseed oil, walnuts and fish. Fermented foods with probiotics such as yogurt, kimchi and miso, rather than pasteurized ones, can keep the gut healthy, she added. Plant medicines or herbs such as astragalus, reishi mushrooms, stinging nettle and schisandra can help bodies adapt to stressors, help balance immune systems or stabilize allergic reactions, she said.

To cope with allergies, she recommends doing the following to reduce exposure to pollen:

  • Wear sunglasses to get less pollen into the eyes;
  • Wash outdoor clothes frequently, use outer layers for outside and remove them when you go inside the house;
  • Use air purifiers such as with HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filters;
  • Wash pets and children after they go outside;
  • Keep the window closed on days with high pollen counts.

Mariam Hanna, a pediatric allergist, clinical immunologist and associate professor with McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., says immunotherapy can help patients retrain their bodies by working with an allergist so they become more tolerant to pollens and have fewer symptoms.

“Some patients will need medications like over-the-counter antihistamines or speaking with their doctor about the right types of medications to help with symptom control,” she said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca.

Coates recommends people check pollen forecasts and decrease their exposure to pollen since no cure exists for allergies. “The best is knowing what’s in the air so that you can adjust your schedules, or whatever you’re doing, around the pollen levels.”

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Do you need a spring COVID-19 vaccine? Research backs extra round for high-risk groups

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Recent studies suggest staying up-to-date on COVID shots helps protect high-risk groups from severe illness

New guidelines suggest certain high-risk groups could benefit from having another dose of a COVID-19 vaccine this spring — and more frequent shots in general — while the broader population could be entering once-a-year territory, much like an annual flu shot.

Medical experts told CBC News that falling behind on the latest shots can come with health risks, particularly for individuals who are older or immunocompromised.

Even when the risk of infection starts to increase, the vaccines still do a really good job at decreasing risk of severe disease, said McMaster University researcher and immunologist Matthew Miller.

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Who needs another COVID shot?

Back in January, Canada’s national vaccine advisory body set the stage for another round of spring vaccinations. In a statement (new window), the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) stated that starting in spring 2024, individuals at an increased risk of severe COVID may get an extra dose of the latest XBB.1.5-based vaccines, which better protect against circulating virus variants.

That means:

  • Adults aged 65 and up.
  • Adult residents of long-term care homes and other congregate living settings for seniors.
  • Anyone six months of age or older who is moderately to severely immunocompromised.

The various spring recommendations don’t focus on pregnancy, despite research (new window) showing clear links between a COVID infection while pregnant, and increased health risks. However, federal guidance does note that getting vaccinated during pregnancy can protect against serious outcomes.

Vaccinated people can also pass antibodies to their baby through the placenta and through breastmilk, that guidance states (new window).

What do the provinces now recommend?

Multiple provinces have started rolling out their own regional guidance based on those early recommendations — with a focus on allowing similar high-risk groups to get another round of vaccinations.

B.C. is set to announce guidance on spring COVID vaccines in early April, officials told CBC News, and those recommendations are expected to align with NACI’s guidance.

In Manitoba (new window), high-risk individuals are already eligible for another dose, provided it’s been at least three months since their latest COVID vaccine.

Meanwhile Ontario’s latest guidance (new window), released on March 21, stresses that high-risk individuals may get an extra dose during a vaccine campaign set to run between April and June. Eligibility will involve waiting six months after someone’s last dose or COVID infection.

Having a spring dose is particularly important for individuals at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19 who did not receive a dose during the Fall 2023 program, the guidance notes.

And in Nova Scotia (new window), the spring campaign will run from March 25 to May 31, also allowing high-risk individuals to get another dose.

Specific eligibility criteria vary slightly from province-to-province, so Canadians should check with their primary care provider, pharmacist or local public health team for exact guidelines in each area.

WATCH: Age still best determines when to get next COVID vaccine dose, research suggests:

 

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Age still best determines when to get COVID vaccines, new research suggests

It’s been four years since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, and new research suggests your age may determine how often you should get a booster shot.

Why do the guidelines focus so much on age?

The rationale behind the latest spring guidelines, Miller said, is that someone’s age remains one of the greatest risk factors associated with severe COVID outcomes, including hospitalization, intensive care admission and death.

So that risk starts to shoot up at about 50, but really takes off in individuals over the age of 75, he noted.

Canadian data (new window) suggests the overwhelming majority of COVID deaths have been among older adults, with nearly 60 per cent of deaths among those aged 80 or older, and roughly 20 per cent among those aged 70 to 79.

People with compromised immune systems or serious medical conditions are also more vulnerable, Miller added.

Will people always need regular COVID shots?

While the general population may not require shots as frequently as higher-risk groups, Miller said it’s unlikely there will be recommendations any time soon to have a COVID shot less than once a year, given ongoing uncertainty about COVID’s trajectory.

Going forward, I suspect for pragmatic reasons, [COVID vaccinations] will dovetail with seasonal flu vaccine campaigns, just because it makes the implementation much more straightforward, Miller said.

And although we haven’t seen really strong seasonal trends with SARS-CoV-2 now, I suspect we’ll get to a place where it’s more seasonal than it has been.

In the meantime, the guidance around COVID shots remains simple at its core: Whenever you’re eligible to get another dose — whether that’s once or twice a year — you might as well do it.

What does research say?

One analysis, published in early March in the medical journal Lancet Infectious Diseases (new window), studied more than 27,000 U.S. patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID, between September and December 2023.

The team found individuals who had an updated vaccine reduced their risk of severe illness by close to a third — and the difference was more noticeable in older and immunocompromised individuals.

Another American research team from Stanford University recently shared the results from a modelling simulation looking at the ideal frequency for COVID vaccines.

The study in Nature Communications (new window) suggests that for individuals aged 75 and up, having an annual COVID shot could reduce severe infections from an estimated 1,400 cases per 100,000 people to around 1,200 cases — while bumping to twice a year could cut those cases even further, down to 1,000.

For younger, healthier populations, however, the benefit of regular shots against severe illness was more modest.

The outcome wasn’t a surprise to Stanford researcher Dr. Nathan Lo, an infectious diseases specialist, since old age has consistently been a risk factor for severe COVID.

It’s almost the same pattern that’s been present the entire pandemic, he said. And I think that’s quite striking.

More frequent vaccination won’t prevent all serious infections, he added, or perhaps even a majority of those infections, which highlights the need for ongoing mitigation efforts.

Lauren Pelley (new window) · CBC News

 

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