August 24, 2021 Health Policy Surge in non-Covid respiratory illnesses reported at CHEO ER despite school not yet underway. Importance of getting to 90% vaccination rate among the eligible cannot be overstated to protect our children when Delta comes to town.
August 16, 2021 Health Policy The Atlantic explains how the Delta variant is affecting children in the US especially in areas with low vaccination rates. There is understandable trepidation for unvaccinated Canadian children returning to school.
August 11, 2021 Epidemiology BioNTech recommends a third COVID-19 dose is needed to protect against the Delta variant. Need evidence to support this claim. Vast majority ending up in hospital/ICU are unvaccinated; evidence that to date, two doses of #vaccineswork.
August 10, 2021 Depression @JAMAPediatrics study suggests that during first year of pandemic “1 in 4 youth globally are experiencing clinically elevated depression symptoms, while 1 in 5 youth are experiencing clinically elevated anxiety symptoms.”
August 6, 2021 Allergy/Immunology Retrospective study finds that the flu vaccine has benefits against severe effects of COVID-19. How it does this remains unknown but if true, it will be fascinating and enlightening to figure out how our immune response works in this setting.
August 4, 2021 Epidemiology Imperial College London study provides more evidence that a double-vaccinated person is engaging in a classic and time-honoured risk-and-harm-reduction strategy. #vaccineswork
July 23, 2021 General information Some COVID-19 myths that refuse to die come with important caveats. With time, some of them become accepted facts with supporting evidence, others become misinformation that are difficult to dislodge. #vaccineswork
July 16, 2021 Health Statistics Lancet study reports that #LongCovid has a myriad of symptoms having a significant negative impact on quality of life for young and old.
July 12, 2021 General information First documented case of double variant COVID infection in 90 yo Belgian woman recorded in March 2021. In some ways it represents the process of how one variant succeeds over the other with the human body being its battleground.
July 7, 2021 General information Reports of myocarditis in Ontario not exceeding expected background rate. Correlation to mRNA vaccines noted but causation yet to be verified. Public disclosure and transparency with risk in context is necessary even if uncertain. No one wants surprises.