world

Friday January 7, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday January 7, 2022

We are playing whack-a-mole with variants – and the virus is winning

As we begin year three of the Covid-19 pandemic, hunkering down again to survive the viral blizzard that Omicron has brought, it is painfully clear that we are failing to learn from the past. 

April 28, 2021

Predictably, rich nations have made boosters and border controls their primary response to the Omicron crisis, while vaccine apartheid, the 800-pound gorilla in the room, is completely unaddressed. If we do not vaccinate the world, the pandemic won’t end, more variants will emerge, and the world will continue to lose millions of lives, along with trillions in economic losses.

While some political leaders might claim that they “didn’t see Omicron coming,” health experts have been shouting from the rooftops about this. For months.

In April 2021, as the delta variant devastated India, causing millions of excess deaths, we had this warning in the Washington Post: “We cannot just vaccinate rich countries and hope that we will be safe. The only way to end this pandemic is to end it everywhere. Otherwise, we will forever play whack-a-mole with a constantly mutating virus.”

Friday December 3, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday December 3, 2021

Boosters or global vaccine sharing? Canada can do both amid Omicron: experts

May 11, 2021

The discovery of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant has reignited the issue of global vaccine inequality as richer nations debate whether to accelerate third doses of vaccines.

But as Canadian officials figure out how to protect their populations, they must also not lose focus on vaccinating other parts of the world to stop new variants from emerging, experts say.

“There has been a lack of appreciation and foresight into how important and directly impactful it is to ensure that we vaccinate the entire world,” said Dr. Matthew Miller, associate professor of biochemistry and biomedical sciences at McMaster University.

“We need to be thinking really carefully and deliberately about how we ensure that nations and regions that have not had good vaccine availability get access to those vaccines.”

August 21, 2021

Following the revelation of Omicron last week, which the WHO warns poses a “very high” risk, wealthy nations around the world have taken steps to try and protect their populations.

Among those measures are travel bans. mainly on nations in Africa, where the variant was discovered, but also on accelerating expanding third dose rollouts.

The United Kingdom has decided to open booster shots for all adults, and the head of the European Commission said Wednesday the European Union needs daily reviews of its travel restrictions and rapid deployment of boosters to protect from Omicron. It is unclear right now if the variant is more deadly, or if it can evade current vaccines.

May 20, 2021

The Canadian government has requested the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) to quickly provide the latest directives on booster use in light of the Omicron variant, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said Tuesday.

Canada’s vaccination rate vastly differs from other countries in the world. Right now, 86 per cent of eligible Canadians are fully vaccinated whereas the world’s population overall is 43.58 per cent fully vaccinated, Johns Hopkins University indicates.

However, Johns Hopkins’ data shows large portions of Africa remain unvaccinated. In Nigeria, the continent’s most populous country, only 1.74 per cent of eligible Nigerians are fully vaccinated. In Ethiopia, 1.28 per cent of its eligible population is fully inoculated.

Many African nations have had challenges with their vaccine rollouts, and have wasted doses that have been given with short notices and short shelf lives. Some countries have also run into vaccine hesitancy, which has impacted uptake.

Those challenges show that global vaccine equity is more than just supplying shots, Barrett said, adding wealthy countries like Canada need to help with rollouts even as they boost their populations.

January 28, 2021

“Vaccine rollouts have been so ineffective in some places that they’ve been throwing vaccines out because it expires over the last number of months,” she said.

“How do we start to support other countries in a real way to get their vaccine rollout in a more effective space and place, so they’re not throwing out expired vaccine doses?”

To date, Canada has donated more than 8.3 million surplus vaccine doses through COVAX, and has also shared 762,080 AstraZeneca doses through direct, bilateral arrangements with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The government has also pledged to donate at least 200 million doses to the COVAX by the end of 2022. (Global News) 

 

Friday November 12, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday November 12, 2021

Yes, Doug Ford’s government has a ‘cohesive plan.’ No, it’s not for the environment, critics say

Critics of the Ford government’s environment plan say a recent pledge to build highways in Ontario is the latest in a series of moves that signals it does not have a real plan to tackle climate change. 

November 13, 2020

“We’re losing ground,” said Laura Bowman, staff lawyer with the environmental law firm Ecojustice. 

Bowman said Premier Doug Ford’s government is making development a priority with its promise last week to build Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass, two controversial highways in the Greater Toronto Area. Critics say they’ll add more vehicles to the roads when they’re completed, which will pump more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and make it much more difficult to meet the province’s emissions targets.

The Progressive Conservative government counters by saying the new highways will help lessen gridlock and cut commute times, thereby cutting emissions from idling vehicles stuck for hours in traffic. But environmentalists don’t buy that argument and say the PCs do not have a history of taking the climate crisis seriously.

“The current government’s track record has been one of rapidly dismantling environmental protection,” Bowman told CBC Toronto Friday.

October 16, 2020

Since taking power, the PCs have made several changes to environmental policies, including the Endangered Species Act, scrapping carbon pricing and electric vehicle rebates. 

But the government has also repeatedly said it is tackling the climate crisis. Environment Minister David Piccini is attending the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland. His office said he is there to “build international partnerships for Ontario’s clean industry, explore emerging best practices, and contribute the province’s voice to the global conversation.”

When questioned about why its fall economic statement last week just mentioned climate change only twice, Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy pointed out his government is investing $295 million to upgrade Ford’s Oakville assembly plant to make electric vehicles, matching the federal government’s contribution.

“That’s going to reduce emissions,” he said. 

He also pointed to his government’s investments in expansive transit projects, namely in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. The province is budgeting $61.6 billion for transit over the next decade, three times more than the $22.9 billion allotted for highways. (CBC) 

 

Wednesday May 12, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday May 12, 2021

What happens when people get two different COVID-19 vaccines?

As some experts continue to warn of very rare side effects associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine, Canadian health officials are now reviewing the research on mixing various COVID-19 shots.

May 6, 2020

A study of a “mismatched” vaccine regimen is underway in the U.K. — but some scientists say there’s reason to believe that administering two doses of different products could boost a person’s immune response beyond what can be achieved by giving the same shot twice.

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) caused some confusion earlier this month when it said the viral vector shot from AstraZeneca is not the “preferred” product given its associated risk of vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) — a condition that causes blood clots. That warning came out after hundreds of thousands of Canadians had received the AstraZeneca vaccine already.

According to the Ontario Science Table, estimates of the frequency of VITT in individuals who have received the AstraZeneca vaccine now range from 1 case in 26,000 to 1 case in 127,000 doses administered.

The risk of developing this side effect, combined with an uncertain delivery schedule for future supply, has prompted some provinces to consider pausing AstraZeneca vaccinations altogether.

Researchers at Oxford University in the U.K. launched a study in early February to explore the possible benefits of alternating different COVID-19 vaccines. According to the lead scientists, the study is “looking for clues as to how to increase the breadth of protection against new virus strains.”

March 31, 2021

The study — otherwise known as the COVID-19 Heterologous Prime Boost study, or “Com-COV” — is collecting data to determine whether receiving two different types of vaccine generates an immune response at least equal to the response that follows receiving the same product twice. (A “heterologous” vaccination regimen is one that uses more than one product.)

Dr. Helen Fletcher is a professor of immunology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the U.K. She said a “mismatched” vaccine program would deliver some practical benefits — vaccine delivery logistics would be greatly simplified — but there could be another good reason to pursue a mixed-dose regimen.

“I’m excited about the study because I think it’s likely that the immune response will be even better if you mix and match vaccines,” Fletcher said in an interview with CBC News.

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, said last week the current guidance is for AstraZeneca recipients to get a second dose of the same product, but NACI is now reviewing the Oxford research on mixing AstraZeneca with an mRNA shot.

“There will be further advice forthcoming on that second dose based on the evolving science. We should watch this space,” Tam said. 

Will Canada shorten the time between shots? Possibly. NACI said in early March that, given the limited vaccine supply, provinces and territories may want to wait up to 16 weeks between first and second doses to give more people at least some level of protection.

The provinces have since followed this guidance, with a few exceptions. For example, many long-term care home residents have been fully vaccinated on the timeline recommended by the vaccine makers. Pfizer calls for a second dose 21 days after the first, while Moderna stipulates the second shot should come 28 days later. (CBC)