A vaccine information phone line for parents at SickKids hospital has seen an increase in calls following five confirmed measles cases in recent weeks, but the project’s co-lead says it’s currently on hold after federal funding was not renewed.
The Vaccine Consult Serviceis a pilot project that allows parents to have in-depth conversations with nurses about immunizations in a “safe, non-judgmental” environment, said Dr. Pierre-Philippe Piché-Renaud, a pediatric infectious disease physician at SickKids.
“We’ve seen an uptake in the numbers of calls in the past few weeks, especially in recent days and weeks, with the situation around measles,” he told CBC Radio’s Metro Morning on Wednesday.
However, Piché-Renaud says the service is “halted for now” as funding received from the Public Health Agency of Canada was not renewed. The project’s website lists Wednesday as the last day to book an appointment.
CBC News has reached out to the Public Health Agency of Canada for comment.
Meanwhile, Piché-Renaud says the project is looking for ways to renew the funding.
Resources like the Vaccine Consult Service are essential, says Dr. Vinita Dubey, associate medical officer of health for Toronto Public Health (TPH).
“It’s not just about having people who can vaccinate,” Dubey said. “We also need some of those other places where parents can go to get their questions answered.”
Typically, parents call the phone line “to confirm that it would be OK for their child to be immunized,” Piché-Renaud said. He says some situations include if their child has underlying medical conditions or has experienced side-effects from one or more vaccines in the past.
The measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine consists of two doses, according to a city of Toronto news release.
LISTEN | Vaccine information phone line sees an uptick of phone calls:
Metro Morning7:49Vaccine information phone line sees an uptick of phone calls after measles cases are confirmed in Ontario
Dr. Pierre-Phillipe Piche-Renaud is a pediatric infectious diseases physician at SickKids. He’s also the co-lead of a pilot project called the Vaccine Consult Service, and a member of the Centre for Vaccine Preventable Diseases at Dalla Lana School of Public Health at University of Toronto.
If somebody receives the recommended two doses of the vaccine, in theory, the risk of catching measles is “almost zero,” Piché-Renaud said.
“It is not 100 per cent perfect, but it’s close to that,” he said.
There are a subset of children who are too young to receive the measles vaccine, Piché-Renaud says, adding that people who are immunocompromised may still catch measles even if previously vaccinated.
According to the federal government, children under six months old are too young to receive the vaccine.
Check your vaccine status, TPH says
With March break looming, TPH is advising families to check that they are protected against measles before travelling.
“Due to a decline in measles vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic, health authorities have reported a significant increase in measles outbreaks globally with recent cases of measles reported in Toronto, York Region, Peel Region and Brant County,” TPH said in a news release on Wednesday.
“Those unsure of their vaccination status are asked to check with their healthcare provider,” it added.
All Ontarians are eligible for free measles vaccination, TPH says. School-aged children can book an appointment at a TPH community clinic or visit their primary health care provider, they say.
Adults can access the vaccine for free through primary care and some walk-in clinics, the release says.
Some suspensions for out-of-date vaccine records
Historically, Dubey says, Toronto has seen measles outbreaks related to March break.
Though measles was considered a routine childhood illness before 1970, complications of the disease can be severe, she said, including hearing loss, pneumonia and encephalitis (brain inflammation).
“If every child were to get measles now, we know that a good handful of them would end up getting very sick from it, and some even dying,” she said.
A measles outbreak is not inevitable in Ontario, said Dr. Pierre-Philippe Piché-Renaud, a pediatric infectious disease physician at SickKids. (Guillaume Cottin/CBC)
Measles symptoms can include a high fever, cold-like symptoms, cough, runny nose, small spots with white centres inside the mouth, sore eyes, sensitivity to light and a red, blotchy rash lasting four to seven days, TPH says.
Since September, TPH has sent out thousands of notices to notify parents if the health agency does not have their child’s up-to-date vaccination records, says Dubey. Some students received suspension orders after their records were found to be not updated in accordance with the Immunization of School Pupils Act, she adds.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, TPH suspended their vaccine assessment program, which monitors student vaccination records, said Dr. Allison Chris, associate medical officer of health for TPH.
The 2023-2024 school year marks the return of this program, which continues to be in progress, she says.
A measles outbreak is not inevitable in Ontario, Piché-Renaud says. About 95 per cent of the population should be fully vaccinated for measles to not spread, he says.
Canada can learn from Europe, Dubey says, where measles vaccination rates decreased enough to result in measles outbreaks. A vaccine is a “very safe way” to prevent an outbreak, she said.
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.
