Canada - Coronavirus COVID-19 #2

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  • #681
  • #682
I knew this was coming, after how many people have gotten it?

The unusual blood clotting disorder linked with Oxford-AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine is a different kind of clotting problem, one that requires more extensive care, can’t be predicted and is “really kinda bad,” says a Toronto infectious diseases specialist. The case fatality rate ranges between 20 and 40 per cent.

For those reasons and more, Dr. Andrew Morris believes it’s time to halt AstraZeneca’s shots in Canada, except for people aged 40 or older living in hotspots with a high amount of disease activity and a high risk of infection, and only then if people face a two- to three-week delay in getting a Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna shot — mRNA vaccines that haven’t been associated with the same blood clot “safety signal.”

'Very little excuse' to continue to use AstraZeneca in Canada: infectious diseases specialist

Alberta has just announced that because of AstraZeneca supply shortages, all remaining doses are reserved for people who require a second shot. Everyone else will receive Pfizer or Moderna.
 
  • #683
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There are concerns that the India variant is more transmissible, but I'm guessing that means more transmissible than the original variant - so same as other variants.

"The World Health Organization said the coronavirus variant first identified in [India] last year was being classified as a variant of global concern, with some preliminary studies showing that it spreads more easily.

"We are classifying this as a variant of concern at a global level," Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical lead on COVID-19, told a briefing in Geneva on Monday. "There is some available information to suggest increased transmissibility."
...

Adding to the strain on medical facilities, the Indian government has told doctors to look out for signs of mucormycosis, or "black fungus," in COVID-19 patients as hospitals report a rise in cases of the rare but potentially fatal infection.

The disease, which can lead to blackening or discolouration over the nose, blurred or double vision, chest pain, breathing difficulties and coughing blood, is strongly linked to diabetes. And diabetes can in turn be exacerbated by steroids such as dexamethasone, used to treat severe COVID-19."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/coronavirus-covid19-canada-world-may11-2021-1.6021590
 
  • #688
 
  • #689
So many in are dying in India that their bodies are being thrown into the Ganges as the villagers run out of firewood for pyres.

CNN.com
 
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  • #690
Ontario is no longer offering the AZ shot out of an abundance of caution.

Breaking news, 680News, CFTO, CP24
 
  • #691
Ontario is no longer offering the AZ shot out of an abundance of caution.

Breaking news, 680News, CFTO, CP24

yep I posted a link on previous page
 
  • #692
The news of the AZ shots being discontinued was 'official' and from Dr. David Williams at approx. 4pm.

Your post was an opinion piece from one of the doctors on the panel, stating that there really was no longer a reason for first shots of AZ.

I suspect he was 'in the know' of the upcoming announcement but he said he could not speak for the panel.

As long as we get the news, that's what counts.

I do feel for those who took the AZ and now are uncertain of how to proceed.
 
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Canada's largest province halts AstraZeneca first doses

TORONTO -- Canada’s largest province said Tuesday it will stop giving out first doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine due to concerns over its link to rare blood clots.

Ontario's chief medical officer for health, Dr. David Williams, said the decision was made out of an abundance of caution because of increased instances of the rare blood clotting disorder linked to the shot.
....
In Canada, at least 12 cases have been confirmed out of more than 2 million doses given, and three women have died.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford both received a AstraZeneca first dose in recent weeks. Williams said people who got the first dose of AstraZeneca “absolutely did the right thing.”

Dr. Andrew Morris, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Toronto and the medical director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at Sinai-University Health Network, does not believe Canada should be using AstraZeneca any longer now that Canada has large supplies of other vaccines.

“It’s the right thing to do,” he said.

Morris said experts don’t know yet what to do about people who got only the first dose. Health officials are awaiting results of a clinical trial in the United Kingdom looking at giving a different vaccine for the second dose. That would allow people who got AstraZeneca first to be given Pfizer or Moderna for their second dose.

Alberta is also no longer administrating first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine but only because of a lack of supply.


Canada's largest province halts AstraZeneca first doses
 
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From the MT, interesting article posted.

Scientists Find How AstraZeneca Vaccine Causes Clots

April 22, 2021 -- Scientists in Germany say they've worked out the two-step mechanism by which the AstraZeneca vaccine causes rare but devastating blood clots that gobble up the body's supply of platelets.
....
"This is, in my opinion, rock-solid evidence," said Andreas Greinacher, MD, head of the Institute of Immunology and Transfusion Medicine, University Hospital Greifswald, Germany, who was among the first scientists in the world to link the rare clots to antibodies against a key protein in platelets.
....
In his new study, Greinacher and colleagues describe a series of events that has to happen in the body before the vaccines create these large clots. He explained that while everyone has the basic immune machinery that leads to the unusual clots, it is almost always kept in balance. The body uses a series of checks to prevent any step in the process from getting out of control.

In some cases, however, there's a perfect storm where each stage progresses to the next and the end result is very hard to control. That autoimmune attack, which causes the body to go into a hyper-clotting state, typically burns itself out after a few weeks. So if patients can get rapid treatment, the condition nearly always goes away.

...
Scientists Find How AstraZeneca Vaccine Causes Clots
 
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Information about covid booster shots going forward.

"Infectious disease experts say Albertans should be aware that getting vaccinated against COVID-19 could become a frequent occurrence, though the timing of those additional doses is still unclear.

Albertans 12 and over are now eligible to book their vaccine appointments, and chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw indicated last week that the interval between doses could be shortened as vaccine supply increases, but don’t expect those to be the last vaccines you get to protect yourself against COVID-19.

70c8fc80

Mody said an emerging variant could mean a second generation vaccine is needed ...
it isn’t clear if the process will be annual, like it is with influenza, or perhaps more or less frequent. ....

“Part of it depends on what’s happening elsewhere in the world – if we’re in a situation where the virus has been contained and eliminated, we may not need a booster as urgently,” he said. ...

“It’s not like we’re going to be looking in the rear-view mirror a year from now and saying, ‘Remember the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020?’ “I think it’s likely going to take a very long time to get back to normal, if it ever does.”
COVID-19 booster shots likely a reality for Albertans, though frequency unclear
 
  • #700
^^^ If air travel/cruises and business travel return to pre-COVID normal, we'll be having an ongoing COVID crisis that requires at least two boosters a year. IMO

Given that even a double dose of vaccine does not prevent transmission or the host getting COVID, we'll definitely need second generation vaccines. IMO

I just hope that Canada is better at the boosters and second gen vaccines than they've been with the originals. IMO

IMO, we cannot allow people unrestricted travel as in the past until COVID has almost died out. When that will be, who knows? 2024 maybe
 
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