Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says it’s time to start wearing masks again.
Senior public health officials appeared at a press conference on Tuesday wearing masks and urged Canadians to get an updated COVID-19 vaccine this fall after the first shot targeting the latest variants was authorized for use. They also appeared to be socially distanced.
“It is a layer of protection. We hope people have developed the habit to be able to use masks as needed during the respiratory virus season, not just for COVID, but for all the other respiratory pathogens,” Tam said.
“I do think now is the time to get your mask ready if you don’t already have them.”
On Tuesday, Health Canada’s regulatory branch approved Moderna’s new Spikevax vaccine, which is formulated for the XBB.1.5 lineage of the Omicron variant. Almost all the cases of COVID-19 in Canada currently are versions of the XBB lineage.
“There is strong evidence showing that the benefits of this vaccine outweigh the potential risks,” said chief medical adviser Dr. Supriya Sharma at a news conference in Ottawa.
Moderna said in a statement the first doses would be shipped to arrive in Canada Sept. 13, with more arriving over the next month.
Moderna began submitting data on clinical trials for the new vaccine at the end of June, and the decision follows an in-depth assessment of that data, Sharma said.
NACI’s latest advice is that adults and children as young as five should get one dose of the new vaccine this fall if it has been at least six months since their last dose or their most recent COVID-19 infection.
Children between six months and four years of age should get one dose if they have been vaccinated for COVID-19 before, but two doses if they haven’t.
The decision comes as there has been a small uptick in COVID-19 in Canada, following months of what Tam said were historically low levels of the virus.
Tam said overall, that uptick has been inconsistent and sporadically located, but it is time for people to top-up their resistance to the virus.
“I think one of the reasons that we think there’s an increased uptick right now is this reduced immunity over time,” she said.
Omicron, the variant that hit Canada just before Christmas in 2021 and caused the largest spread during the pandemic, is still the dominant variant — but there are multiple sub-lineages from it, including the XBB line. That includes XBB.1.5, for which this new vaccine is specifically formulated.
As of Sept. 3, XBB strains accounted for 98 per cent of all cases in Canada, with XBB.1.5 specifically accounting for about nine per cent, while the XBB sub-lineage EG.5 is about 35 per cent of cases.
Sharma and Tam both said the new vaccine shows good immune response against multiple XBB strains. Sharma said while the agreed-upon language internationally is to refer to this new shot as an “updated” vaccine, she is fine with also calling it a booster.
“It actually does talk about what the additional doses of the vaccine do for the immune system,” she said.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control authorized Moderna and the Pfizer/BioNTech XBB.1.5 vaccines Tuesday, recommending it for everyone at least six months old.
Moderna said doses of the vaccine should be in the hands of provinces and territories in Canada in time for their fall vaccination campaigns.
The federal government is paying for the new doses, as it has for the original vaccines and the second version, updated for an earlier Omicron strain in 2022.
Tam said some provinces may choose to roll out their COVID-19 and fall flu vaccines at the same time, and she said it is safe to get them both at the same time.
While COVID-19 vaccine doses will be covered, flu vaccines may have a cost for patients depending on the province or territory.
Canadians eagerly lined up to get the first two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in 2021, and more than 80 per cent got those doses. However, fewer than six per cent of kids under the age of five have received the primary vaccination series, and only six per cent of Canadians have received any COVID-19 vaccination in the last six months.
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.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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