For those with two doses, it’s more likely that flu or pneumonia will be on their death certificate than COVID-19 There are two important points to remember when talking about COVID-19 in Canada. First, vaccines have proven to be more effective against the disease than even the most optimistic virologist could have hoped. It prevents…
Category: Community News
Vaccine passports are inevitable and Canada should prepare
Marcus Kolga: A pilot project led by Estonia uses technology that would protect privacy while accelerating our return to normal life Marcus Kolga is a Canadian-Estonian human rights activist and an expert on foreign disinformation and influence operations. He is a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. The need for vaccination passports for future international…
Is it time to ‘normalize’ COVID-19 in Ontario schools? Parents are divided
Parent Kate Dupuis doesn’t feel like schools will be safe without mandatory vaccines or reduced class sizes When Ontario’s top doctor said it’s time to “normalize” COVID-19 in schools Tuesday, Bronwen Alsop says she almost fell off her chair. The mother of two young kids and founder of the Ontario Families Coalition has advocated for in-class…
Looking for vaccination rates at your teen’s high school? Unless you live in this health unit you’re out of luck
As high school students across the province get ready to head back to school this September, many may be wondering whether their classmates have been vaccinated against COVID-19. But while one health unit gets top marks for transparency on vaccination rates, other parents and teens in the province are in the dark, at least for now. The province’s official…
Vaccinations: No more carrot—bring out the stick
Scott Gilmore: Rewards and bribes aren’t working. It’s increasingly clear there’s only one way out of this pandemic and the approaching fourth wave. There is an inevitable moment, familiar to all parents and babysitters, when you realize that reasoning with a toddler will only get you so far. Soothing tones and patience may work for…
Booster shots for Canadians are unlikely – for now
Ashleigh Tuite and David Fisman are epidemiologists and professors at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Almost as soon as the safety and efficacy data for the first COVID-19 vaccines emerged, there were questions about how long the vaccines would provide protection and whether we would eventually need booster shots. The recent announcement by Pfizer-BioNTech that…
Looking to a post-pandemic Canada: What can we learn from the U.K.?
Opinion: How can society reopen safely with the rise of the dangerous Delta variant? We can again use the UK as a crystal ball, but this time the images are unclear. Fahad Razak, Arthur Slutsky and David Naylor are physicians and professors in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Drs. Razak and Slutsky…
International students face vaccine hurdles as they prep for campus life in Canada
Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, used in dozens of countries, isn’t accepted by some Ontario schools Like many students eyeing in-class learning this fall, Nyle Maker is on the hunt for his second dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine before starting university in Hamilton. But unlike most, the 18-year-old McMaster University student has already received a full…
Ontario releases 2021 school plan; field trips, assemblies and extracurriculars to resume
Elementary and secondary school students will both return to the classroom five days a week in the fall and they will be greeted by an environment that more closely resembles the pre-pandemic normal with the return of field trips, school assemblies, music programming and extracurricular activities. The Ministry of Education released a 26-page document Tuesday…
Do we need to worry about breakthrough COVID-19 infections after getting vaccinated?
Let’s be crystal clear about one thing from the outset: Vaccinated people are not as likely to get and spread the coronavirus as unvaccinated people. Not even remotely so. What is true is that in the rare instance someone has a breakthrough infection, they can spread the virus as readily. That is very different. And…