Ontario is the latest province to reject the idea of a domestic COVID-19 vaccine passport while other provinces support such a document, forcing some institutions and businesses to make their own rules. Seneca College in Toronto will require both students and faculty to be fully immunized in order to be invited back to campus in the fall,…
Category: Community News
Will Canadians need COVID booster shots?
Vaxx Populi: Data shows good immunity nine months after receiving two doses, PHAC says, though need for boosters is being ‘closely monitored’ in light of emergence of variants of concern On July 8, Pfizer and its COVID-19 vaccine partner BioNTech announced that it would apply in coming weeks for emergency use authorization from the U.S. government for…
Ontario’s top doctor warns it will be a ‘challenge’ to fully reopen the economy next month
Ontario is set for the next stage of reopening Friday, but the chief medical officer of health warns it will be a “challenge” to lift most remaining pandemic restrictions in August. “We’ve got our work cut out for us,” said Dr. Kieran Moore, noting the province would need 80 per cent of those 12 and…
Ontario Health says mixing vaccines is safe after WHO chief scientist comments
Health officials are reassuring Ontarians that mixing COVID-19 vaccines is safe and effective against the virus, following some confusion about messaging from the World Health Organization that seemed to say there is not enough data on the practice yet. At the WHO’s Monday coronavirus briefing, chief scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan warned against mixing vaccines, as…
Canada’s Fourth Wave Will Look A Lot Different For Vaxxed & Unvaxxed People, Expert Says
“If you’re unvaccinated, your risk has gone a lot higher,” Dr. Colin Furness said. Canada is on its way to a fourth wave of COVID-19, according to one expert, but he said it will look very different depending on your vaccination status. According to Dr. Colin Furness, an infection control epidemiologist and assistant professor at the Faculty…
Canada to reach 55M vaccine doses by week’s end, catching up to U.S. on second doses
OTTAWA – Canada is expecting vaccine shipments to keep rolling in this week as the country inches closer to matching the percentage of people in the United States fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The federal government expects another 1.4 million doses of the shot from Pfizer-BioNTech to arrive in the next seven days. It also plans…
Parental COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy maybe the next challenge for vaccination campaigns
The development of several new mRNA and viral vector vaccines in the space of a single year has changed how we understand vaccine hesitancy. As a gender and social justice researcher in the health humanities, I began tracking COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the spring of 2020. My research assistant and I analyzed debates as they…
US CDC: Fully vaccinated students and teachers do not need to wear masks in school
The health agency updated its school guidance to help guide state and local officials as well as administrators prepare for the fall term. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that fully vaccinated teachers, students and staff can return back to K-12 schools without wearing masks. The health agency updated its school guidance…
Canada, where vaccine acceptance isn’t political
Philippe J. Fournier: Unlike in the U.S, where vaccine eagerness shifts along party lines, a new poll shows Canadians of all stripes broadly support getting the shot Vaccination against COVID-19 continues to progress well across the country. As of this writing, nearly 60 per cent of Canadians—and counting—have received at least a first dose of…
‘Very, very concerning’: Pandemic taking heavy toll on children’s mental health, Sick Kids study shows
The harms of pandemic-related disruptions on young people will be deeper and may last longer if schools don’t return to in-person learning in the fall, according to findings from an ongoing COVID-19 mental health study from researchers at the Hospital for Sick Children. More than half of children aged eight to 12 reported clinically significant…