Coronavirus outbreak

[Playoff Beered]

UBC researchers find 'weak spot' in all variants of COVID-19 virus that could lead to better treatment

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/covid-19-weak-spot-discovered-by-researchers-ubc-says-1.6554890

[-Vintage Canuck-]

 

[Gurn]

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/canada-s-covid-19-vaccine-coverage-flatlining-as-fall-nears-the-stakes-are-high/ar-AA10QvAd?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=49f468cac6204e53ba95fdd3e1fc46e9

"As fall approaches, experts are urging Canadian governments to create new COVID-19 vaccine campaigns to try to boost the country’s stagnant inoculation rate to avoid overwhelming an already strained health-care system.

About 82 per cent of the entire population is fully vaccinated, with roughly half receiving a third dose and just 11 per cent getting a fourth shot, the latest federal data reported on July 17 shows. Aside from fourth doses, which became available this summer, vaccination coverage hasn’t moved significantly in months.

 

After enjoying a largely restriction-free summer, Canadians are heading into the fall, when health officials worry COVID-19 will circulate with other respiratory infections like influenza. Therefore, it’s important governments get their vaccination messaging right to help ease pressure on a health-care system plagued by staff shortages and emergency room closures, experts say.

“Every year, even before COVID, we've experienced surges of patients coming into hospitals getting sick, a lot of them driven by respiratory viruses that tend to crop up in the fall and in the winter months,” said Dr. Susy Hota, an infectious diseases specialist with the University Health Network in Toronto.

“The stakes are high because we've got fewer public health measures in place, and we've got all kinds of respiratory viruses likely to circulate this fall because of that.”

As COVID-19 immunity — be it from vaccination or infection — wanes over time, some provinces, like Quebec, are preparing to launch new campaigns to try and boost coverage.

According to Ottawa's July 17 data, only 52 per cent of Quebecers had received a third vaccine dose, and roughly 15 per cent had received a fourth. As of Aug. 16, anyone 75 years and older can book an appointment under its fall plan. Eligibility opens to anyone 18 or older starting Aug. 29.

Video: Quebec premier on new COVID-19 booster campaign ahead of fall

Government officials have said low booster uptake is due to the fact that millions of Quebecers have caught COVID-19 and consider themselves adequately protected. Meanwhile, health experts also point to pandemic fatigue and government communication playing a role in booster coverage.

In Saskatchewan, where third-dose coverage was 42 per cent and fourth-dose coverage was 11 per cent as of Ottawa's July 17 data, the government plans to continue to run a general vaccination campaign as a broad portion of the population needs to get up to date with their shots, a government spokesperson told Global News in an email.

In addition to targeted campaigns for vulnerable populations, Saskatchewan’s marketing to date has featured a range of spokespeople from medical health officers and surgeons, parents, influencers and community leaders to reach various demographics, the spokesperson added.

“COVID-19 transmission continues in the province of Saskatchewan and we anticipate increasing cases as people return to workspaces and children return to classrooms this fall,” they said.

“Booster doses can prevent the most severe COVID-19 outcomes and help preserve health-care system capacity this fall and winter.”

Manitoba did not indicate any specific plans for a fall booster campaign when asked by Global News. But a spokesperson from the province said in an email that as of Aug. 17 in Manitoba, third-dose uptake for eligible residents 12 years of age and older is 51.6 per cent and 13.3 per cent for fourth doses. Manitobans have many options to access vaccines, including through their primary care provider, local pharmacy and regional public health clinics, they added.

Global News reached out to all the provinces and territories about their fall vaccine campaigns heading into the fall but did not hear back from the rest by deadline.

Low booster uptake to date has a lot to with pandemic “exhaustion,” said Jason Harley, an associate professor in the department of surgery at McGill University, who added they believe many people have shifted to a “post-COVID mentality” that leads them to ignore public health advice.

The challenge as the fall nears is to convince people to protect themselves and listen to guidelines, which requires connecting to people through clear, easy-to-follow public health messaging, Harley told The Canadian Press recently.

Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) has advised Canadians to get a booster shot, regardless of the number of booster doses previously received, in the fall — a time when an increase in cases is possible as people begin to spend more time indoors, where COVID-19 can spread more easily than outdoors.

COVID-19 booster shots can be offered six months after a previous vaccine dose or infection. A shorter interval of at least three months may be warranted depending on a number of factors, including heightened epidemiologic risk, NACI said in its June 29 interim guidance report on planning considerations for a fall booster program.

The appetite to get a COVID-19 booster for the majority of Canadians is there, an Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News last month found, but the urgency to do so isn’t.

Booster uptake is high in older age groups — such as those 70 years and older — but drops off in younger age groups, federal data shows. Third-shot uptake was high at the beginning of the year when Omicron emerged, but flatlined as the spring set in.

Read more:

COVID-19 boosters recommended this fall ahead of future pandemic wave, NACI says

It’s unclear what immunity levels are like in Canada right now, but what the data suggests is there could be a lot of people who are vulnerable coming into the fall, Hota said.

“It is reassuring that at least in the upper age bracket, we tend to be doing better with the additional doses … but it doesn't eliminate the risk from the others as well (as) there are still younger and healthier people who've had severe illness,” she added.

Video: Who should take the second booster shot?

While vulnerable populations have been prioritized, public trust is critical in getting high booster uptake, said Dr. Matthew Miller, an associate professor of biochemistry and biomedical sciences at McMaster University.

Governments need to be honest in what the current vaccines are capable of doing well, and that is preventing severe illness rather than outright COVID-19 infection, he added. By doing so, it would also help alleviate the burden on the health-care system with Canadians opting to stay up to date on their vaccines.

“Our health-care workers have been stretched to the limit going on close to three years now,” he said.

“That has knock-on effects for people who are awaiting other medical procedures, which in many cases have been delayed or there are huge wait-list backlogs because of cancellations throughout the pandemic that we're required to maintain capacity to look after people with COVID.”

Governments will have another opportunity to highlight vaccine effectiveness if Health Canada approves Pfizer and Moderna’s bivalent vaccines targeting the original COVID-19 variant and the Omicron BA.1 sublineage, Miller said. Those vaccines are still under review, a Health Canada spokesperson told Global News earlier this week.

Read more:

Omicron-adapted COVID-19 vaccines — Could updated shots prevent a fall wave?

While experts have urged Canadians to get the first COVID-19 vaccine available to them, having an updated shot available may increase intake overall, he added.

“The hope is that in addition to continuing to provide really good protection against severe disease, these updated vaccines will hopefully be more effective in preventing infection and reducing transmission as well, something that the current vaccines have struggled more with as the virus has evolved,” Miller said.

It’s also time for the terms “third and fourth dose” to be dropped, Hota said.

“People are getting tired of hearing the numbers of doses that we need,” she said, adding the counting of COVID-19 waves should also stop as it can be “overwhelming.”

“We need to get away from those numbers and think about how long has it been since you've had your last dose as we move forward in this pandemic because it will be important to keep on top of what the data is telling us, (which) is going to protect you from severe illness.”

At the end of the day, it’s important to remember COVID-19 vaccination is not just about immunity, but about protection, Hota added.

“We want to make sure people are protected as best as possible from severe illness, from COVID-19,” she said.

“That's maybe the way that we need to word it.”

[Gurn]

Just now, gurn said:

Global News reached out to all the provinces and territories about their fall vaccine campaigns heading into the fall but did not hear back from the rest by deadline.

This phrasing all ways gets me:

It kind of sounds like the other provinces don't want to talk about it.

But all it really means is, they literally have not got back to them by deadline.

 

Example - I call you and leave a message on voice mail saying " Want to go golfing?, get back to me with in 5 minutes or forget it"

And you don't answer.

One could say you missed the deadline; or say that the deadline was arbitrarily short and unrealistic.

 

 

 

Will note that the BC CDC has told me it is wiser to wait for the 4rth shot and THEY will get back to me as to the appropriate time.

 

 

[JM_]

6 minutes ago, gurn said:

This phrasing all ways gets me:

It kind of sounds like the other provinces don't want to talk about it.

But all it really means is, they literally have not got back to them by deadline.

 

Example - I call you and leave a message on voice mail saying " Want to go golfing?, get back to me with in 5 minutes or forget it"

And you don't answer.

One could say you missed the deadline; or say that the deadline was arbitrarily short and unrealistic.

 

 

 

Will note that the BC CDC has told me it is wiser to wait for the 4rth shot and THEY will get back to me as to the appropriate time.

 

 

my wife was talking to Coastal Health about the shot timing for her mom who needs a nurse to come to her home for the shot - they asked if we wanted to wait until the fall as apparently there will be an updated shot available thats better against the new variants. 

 

Maybe an updated shot will motivate more people to get the booster? I suspect not. 

Edited August 20, 2022 by JM_

[ak96]

20 minutes ago, JM_ said:

my wife was talking to Coastal Health about the shot timing for her mom who needs a nurse to come to her home for the shot - they asked if we wanted to wait until the fall as apparently there will be an updated shot available thats better against the new variants. 

 

Maybe an updated shot will motivate more people to get the booster? I suspect not. 

Exactly,  thanks to the vaccines I am still healthy unlike the unboosted and unvaccinated aka the unintellegent fools. 

 

Side note:  Why do we have to wait 6 months for a booster in BC when in Saskatchewan allows you to get one every 4 months.  The booster starts to wane in 90 days so a mandatory booster shot at least every 4 months seems like the smart thing to do.  0 side effect  from the vaccines vs being on a ventilator and taking a hospital bed away is the choice to make.  

[JM_]

Just now, ak96 said:

Exactly,  thanks to the vaccines I am still healthy unlike the unboosted and unvaccinated aka the unintellegent fools. 

 

Side note:  Why do we have to wait 6 months for a booster in BC when in Saskatchewan allows you to get one every 4 months.  The booster starts to wane in 90 days so a mandatory booster shot at least every 4 months seems like the smart thing to do.  0 side effect  from the vaccines vs being on a ventilator and taking a hospital bed away is the choice to make.  

not sure, but I'd trust BC's decisions over those by Scott Moe, he's fumbled the pandemic from the start. 

 

[ak96]

34 minutes ago, JM_ said:

not sure, but I'd trust BC's decisions over those by Scott Moe, he's fumbled the pandemic from the start. 

 

Not sure how you would be against 3 shots per year.  There is no harm, time to make it mandatory...science shouldn't be questioned

[bishopshodan]

[JM_]

8 minutes ago, ak96 said:

Not sure how you would be against 3 shots per year.  There is no harm, time to make it mandatory...science shouldn't be questioned

BC isn't against it, just has different ideas on timing for our population. SK may have other demographic reasons for their decision. 

[Warhippy]

1 hour ago, bishopshodan said:

You see it too eh?  not just me?

 

 

[RUPERTKBD]

1 hour ago, JM_ said:

BC isn't against it, just has different ideas on timing for our population. SK may have other demographic reasons for their decision. 

Not as many 5G towers in Sask.....so they have to do more microchipping through boosters....

[JM_]

3 minutes ago, RUPERTKBD said:

Not as many 5G towers in Sask.....so they have to do more microchipping through boosters....

Moe thought it was fine to let visitors into SK hospitals at Christmas time during the pandemic without rapid testing, thats the level of stupidity in SK. 

[RUPERTKBD]

Just now, JM_ said:

Moe thought it was fine to let visitors into SK hospitals at Christmas time during the pandemic without rapid testing, thats the level of stupidity in SK. 

He obviously didn't consult with Larry and Curly.....

[thedestroyerofworlds]

I think BC saw the potential of an updated shot coming in the fall, an figured waiting for that would be a better play.  That, and getting shots in the fall would give better protection going through the Fall and into the Winter.

[ak96]

On 8/20/2022 at 11:54 AM, thedestroyerofworlds said:

I think BC saw the potential of an updated shot coming in the fall, an figured waiting for that would be a better play.  That, and getting shots in the fall would give better protection going through the Fall and into the Winter.

No, we need to bring coercion back.  Likely, half of people got the vaccine because they wanted to eat in at the restaurant, go to the gym and travel, but now they can do those things regardless of vaccine status.   Those things are not rights, they are privileges. Therefore, the freedom argument is completely baseless when it's a life or death thing and when protecting the community.

 

We probably need to promote a 4-6 month vaccine schedule to end covid for good. Setting up re-education camps and blocking access to grocery stores for those who choose not to be boosted or vaccinated will help with the booster campaign immensely.  The virus is still raging because of the unboosted and unvaccinated.

Edited August 21, 2022 by ak96

[Gurn]

8 minutes ago, ak96 said:

Setting up re-education camps for those who choose not to be boosted or vaccinated will help with the booster campaign immensely. 

so, just how old are you?

[JM_]

12 minutes ago, ak96 said:

No, we need to bring coercion back.  Likely, half of people got the vaccine because they wanted to eat in at the restaurant, go to the gym and travel, but now they can do those things regardless of vaccine status.   Those things are not rights, they are privileges. So the freedom argument is completely baseless when it's a life or death thing and when protecting the community.

 

We probably need to promote a 4-6 month vaccine schedule to end covid for good. Setting up re-education camps and blocking access to grocery stores for those who choose not to be boosted or vaccinated will help with the booster campaign immensely.  The virus is still raging because of the unboosted and unvaccinated.

not sure you can solve the level of stupidity around vaccines.

[Mossberg]

1 minute ago, JM_ said:

not sure you can solve the level of stupidity around vaccines.

You do realize this guy is playing you right

[Gurn]

3 minutes ago, Mossberg said:

You do realize this guy is playing you right

You seem to fail to  realize that ak96 isn't the only one playing.