The first clinic, for walk-ins only, is set for Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at The 519 community centre located at 519 Church St.
The second one is scheduled for Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Metro Hall, 214 Wellington St. W. An appointment is required for this clinic. Walk-ins will not be accepted.
In addition to these two clinics, residents deemed eligible to get the vaccine can get it by appointment only at the Crossways Sexual Health Clinic at 2340 Dundas St. W. in Etobicoke and Scarborough Sexual Health Clinic at 160 Borough Dr.
People can also inquire about vaccine availability where they currently access sexual healthcare services.
The vaccine, which is free of charge and can be obtained without an Ontario health card or health insurance, is not being given to those who have or have had mpox.
Those eligible to be vaccinated against mpox are being encouraged to get their first dose as soon as possible followed by a second dose at least 28 days later.
The vaccine, which both protects against the mpox virus and helps reduce serious symptoms of it, becomes most effective after two weeks.
Anyone at risk of contracting mpox who is planning to travel soon is especially encouraged to get vaccinated before they leave as cases are being reported in various regions around the world.
Information about upcoming clinic locations, dates, times as well as appointments can be found on the TPH website.
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a virus that can spread from person-to-person through contact with infected lesions, skin blisters, body fluids, or respiratory secretions. It can also be transmitted by contact with materials contaminated with the virus like clothing or bedding, and through bites or scratches from infected animals.
The virus is primarily spread between people who have had close/intimate or sexual contact with a person infected with mpox. Those most affected include gay and bisexual men as well as men who have sex with other men, Toronto Public Health said.
Symptoms of mpox usually start five to 21 days after exposure to the virus and can include fever, headache, muscle aches, exhaustion, and swollen lymph nodes.
Public health said that these symptoms are followed by a rash, blisters, or lesions on the skin that can be painful, including around the genitals.
Toronto Public Health is urging anyone who believes that they may have mpox to “isolate right away and contact a health care provider.”
Some Ontario doctors have started offering a free shot that can protect babies from respiratory syncytial virus while Quebec will begin its immunization program next month.
The new shot called Nirsevimab gives babies antibodies that provide passive immunity to RSV, a major cause of serious lower respiratory tract infections for infants and seniors, which can cause bronchiolitis or pneumonia.
Ontario’s ministry of health says the shot is already available at some doctor’s offices in Ontario with the province’s remaining supply set to arrive by the end of the month.
Quebec will begin administering the shots on Nov. 4 to babies born in hospitals and delivery centers.
Parents in Quebec with babies under six months or those who are older but more vulnerable to infection can also book immunization appointments online.
The injection will be available in Nunavut and Yukon this fall and winter, though administration start dates have not yet been announced.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
-With files from Nicole Ireland
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Polio cases are rising ahead of a new vaccination campaign in Pakistan, where violence targeting health workers and the police protecting them has hampered years of efforts toward making the country polio-free.
Since January, health officials have confirmed 39 new polio cases in Pakistan, compared to only six last year, said Anwarul Haq of the National Emergency Operation Center for Polio Eradication.
The new nationwide drive starts Oct. 28 with the aim to vaccinate at least 32 million children. “The whole purpose of these campaigns is to achieve the target of making Pakistan a polio-free state,” he said.
Pakistan regularly launches campaigns against polio despite attacks on the workers and police assigned to the inoculation drives. Militants falsely claim the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.
Most of the new polio cases were reported in the southwestern Balochistan and southern Sindh province, following by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and eastern Punjab province.
The locations are worrying authorities since previous cases were from the restive northwest bordering Afghanistan, where the Taliban government in September suddenly stopped a door-to-door vaccination campaign.
Afghanistan and Pakistan are the two countries in which the spread of the potentially fatal, paralyzing disease has never been stopped. Authorities in Pakistan have said that the Taliban’s decision will have major repercussions beyond the Afghan border, as people from both sides frequently travel to each other’s country.
The World Health Organization has confirmed 18 polio cases in Afghanistan this year, all but two in the south of the country. That’s up from six cases in 2023. Afghanistan used a house-to-house vaccination strategy this June for the first time in five years, a tactic that helped to reach the majority of children targeted, according to WHO.
Health officials in Pakistan say they want the both sides to conduct anti-polio drives simultaneously.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of people with private health insurance would be able to pick up over-the-counter methods like condoms, the “morning after” pill and birth control pills for free under a new rule the White House proposed on Monday.
Right now, health insurers must cover the cost of prescribed contraception, including prescription birth control or even condoms that doctors have issued a prescription for. But the new rule would expand that coverage, allowing millions of people on private health insurance to pick up free condoms, birth control pills, or “morning after” pills from local storefronts without a prescription.
The proposal comes days before Election Day, as Vice President Kamala Harris affixes her presidential campaign to a promise of expanding women’s health care access in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to undo nationwide abortion rights two years ago. Harris has sought to craft a distinct contrast from her Republican challenger, Donald Trump, who appointed some of the judges who issued that ruling.
“The proposed rule we announce today would expand access to birth control at no additional cost for millions of consumers,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “Bottom line: women should have control over their personal health care decisions. And issuers and providers have an obligation to comply with the law.”
The emergency contraceptives that people on private insurance would be able to access without costs include levonorgestrel, a pill that needs to be taken immediately after sex to prevent pregnancy and is more commonly known by the brand name “Plan B.”
Without a doctor’s prescription, women may pay as much as $50 for a pack of the pills. And women who delay buying the medication in order to get a doctor’s prescription could jeopardize the pill’s effectiveness, since it is most likely to prevent a pregnancy within 72 hours after sex.
If implemented, the new rule would also require insurers to fully bear the cost of the once-a-day Opill, a new over-the-counter birth control pill that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved last year. A one-month supply of the pills costs $20.
Federal mandates for private health insurance to cover contraceptive care were first introduced with the Affordable Care Act, which required plans to pick up the cost of FDA-approved birth control that had been prescribed by a doctor as a preventative service.
The proposed rule would not impact those on Medicaid, the insurance program for the poorest Americans. States are largely left to design their own rules around Medicaid coverage for contraception, and few cover over-the-counter methods like Plan B or condoms.
