#dr deena hinshaw

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Dr. Deena Hinshaw is no longer Alberta's chief medical officer of health.

In a news release Monday, the provincial government announced Hinshaw will be replaced by Dr. Mark Joffe, an Alberta Health Services vice-president.

Joffe's interim term began Monday and will continue until the health minister rescinds the appointment, the news release said. He will continue in his current contract with AHS with no additional compensation as chief medical officer of health.

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Tagging: @politicsofcanada @abpoli

[latest-breaking-news-video]

Watch Alberta ethics commissioner ends investigation into Dr. Deena Hinshaw's dismissal from Indigenous well being job | CBC News - Canada Trending News

[ainews]

Marietta Sutherland of Alberta, Canada, is facing criticism for her recent decision to publicly reveal her lack of understanding about why masks are necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Sutherland questioned the efficacy of masks and accused people who opt to wear them of being "scaredy cats".

In a Facebook post that has since gone viral, Sutherland explained that she does not understand why surgical masks are necessary given that the virus is primarily spread via droplets. In the post, Sutherland went on to address those wearing masks, saying, “I am very disappointed in people that are afraid of a virus they know nothing about and think masks are going to help them but they are only afraid of the unknown".

Sutherland's comments have been deemed unacceptable by the Alberta public due to the current standstill caused by the virus. It is making the already difficult situation worse. Many Albertans feel that Sutherland's comments show a lack of understanding about the scientific reality of COVID-19 and what needs to be done to combat it.

Public health officials have also expressed their frustration with Sutherland's comments. Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer, said, "I appreciate that many people want to have a discussion about the best tactics to use to fight COVID-19. However, I would respectfully ask that those conversations be based in fact and science, rather than disputing evidence that has been gathered by reputable health experts around the world”.

Sutherland has since taken down her post and issued an apology. However, the damage has been done and many Albertans swear to never forget her remarks.

[kayla1993-world]

Alberta's NDP leader says a proposed pay deal for British Columbia doctors should serve as a wake-up call to Premier Danielle Smith to abandon pseudo-science and put down the wrecking ball aimed at the province's health system.

The B.C. contract demonstrates that the race for scarce healthcare talent is on and that Smith's government's organizational chaos and anti-science stance are causing Alberta to fall behind.

“People who are trained in health care understand evidence and science, whether they are nurses' aides or neurosurgeons,” Notley said Tuesday.

“And those people who are told they must work in a healthcare system led by a premier who does not believe vaccines are an important part of any healthcare regime are much more likely to go somewhere else.

“All of this is happening at a time when other provinces are moving quickly to attract healthcare professionals to their jurisdictions.” The British Columbia government announced a tentative agreement this week that could see a full-time family doctor earn around $385,000 per year, a pay increase of roughly one-third from the current $250,000.

Notley said it's difficult to draw direct comparisons, but the British Columbia agreement is on par, if not better, than Alberta's. Steve Buick, a spokesman for Alberta Health, refuted this.

“More fearmongering by Alberta's NDP does not change the facts: full-time family doctors in Alberta were paid $393,000 in 2019-20, which is more than the $385,000 B.C.'s new deal would pay them next year. And, under the new agreement with the Alberta Medical Association, Alberta's family doctors will be paid more,” said Buick in a statement.

“The NDP has once again demonstrated that they have nothing to offer in terms of health care other than empty politics.” Smith took over as United Conservative Party leader and premier three weeks ago, succeeding Kenney.

She ran on a platform accusing Alberta Health Services, the agency in charge of providing front-line care, of imposing punitive and unnecessary vaccine mandates and rules. She also accuses the agency of botching the COVID-19 response, which left hospitals on the verge of collapse during multiple waves of the pandemic.

Smith stated that emergency wards and ambulance bottlenecks must be fixed immediately. She has promised to fire the AHS board and restructure the entire system in preparation for decentralization by mid-January.

She has also promised not to impose any new health restrictions or mask mandates in the event of another COVID-19 outbreak. She is considering legal action to prevent schools from imposing mask rules, and she plans to change human rights laws next month to prohibit discrimination, such as barring someone from coming to work because they have not been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Smith said on her first day as premier, Oct. 11, that she gets her health advice from documents such as the Great Barrington Declaration. The 2020 open letter from a group of health specialists argues for shielding the vulnerable but otherwise letting COVID-19 run unchecked to create herd immunity and reduce long-term harmful side effects from isolation, such as drug use and mental health problems.

Alberta's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, publicly rejected the declaration, calling it scientifically flawed and logistically unworkable. Her viewpoints were shared by other academics as well as the World Health Organization.

Smith has stated that Hinshaw will be let go from her current position. The premier also stated that she will not hold joint press conferences with Hinshaw and stated to reporters on October 22 that “a lot of the bad decisions were made by Alberta Health Services based on bad advice from the chief medical officer of health.”

She has also claimed that allowing health workers to come to work without being vaccinated would be a recruiting tool, which Notley called “an utterly ridiculous, ridiculous assertion.”

Smith, a former journalist, has made headlines for making claims that contradict mainstream science. Last year, she advocated for the use of livestock dewormer ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment - a cure that has since been debunked.

She apologized this summer after saying on a livestream interview that people can avoid contracting early-stage cancer. Since tearing up the doctors' master agreement almost three years ago, the UCP government has had a fractious relationship with health providers, then fought to reduce nurses' wages during the pandemic.

The doctors have since agreed to a four-year contract that includes pay increases of 4% or more. The Alberta Medical Association has stated that it will continue to sue the province for breaching the agreement unless the province follows through on revoking the legislature's power to do so in the first place.

[ewnsnews]

Alberta premier, health and justice ministers to join Hinshaw for Tuesday’s COVID-19 update | Globalnews.ca

Alberta premier, health and justice ministers to join Hinshaw for Tuesday’s COVID-19 update | Globalnews.ca

Premier Jason Kenney, new Health Minister Jason Copping and Justice Minister Kaycee Madu will be joining Alberta’s chief medical officer of health for a COVID-19 update Tuesday afternoon. They are scheduled to speak at 3:30 p.m. The news conference will be streamed live in this article post. Read more: Alberta adds COVID-19 measures, vaccine passport in effort to prevent health-care system’s…

[covid19globalupdates]

Coronavirus outbreak: Alberta officials report 187 new COVID-19 cases, total now 3,095 | FULL

Coronavirus outbreak: Alberta officials report 187 new COVID-19 cases, total now 3,095 | FULL

Coronavirus outbreak: Alberta officials report 187 new COVID-19 cases, total now 3,095 | FULL - Alberta’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw and other officials gave an update on the COVID-19 response in… (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push();

https://covid19globalupdates.com/coronavirus-outbreak-alberta-officials-report-187-new-covid-19-cases-total-now-3095-full/

Alberta, alberta corona virus, Alberta Coronavirus, Alberta COVID-19, alberta update, corona virus, corona virus update, coronavirus, coronavirus latest news, coronavirus news, coronavirus outbreak, coronavirus update, coronavirus update news live stream, COVID-19, Deena Hinshaw, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, global news live, Jason Kenney, jason kenney coronavirus, jason kenney covid-19, Premier Jason Kenney

[canadanewsblog]

Dr. Deena Hinshaw to update Albertans about COVID-19 on Monday afternoon https://canada.birblog.net/news/local/dr-deena-hinshaw-to-update-albertans-about-covid-19-on-monday-afternoon/ After taking a break over the Easter weekend, Alberta’s chief medical health officer will resume her daily updates on COVID-19 at a Monday afternoon news conference. #canada #canadanews #corona #canadaslondon #toronto #torontonews #torontonewspaper #torontoblog #canadablogger #canadabloggers #canadablog #canadapolitics #canadaschools #canadasports #canadasport #canadacity #canadacollege #worldnews #worldnewstonight #worldpolitics Dr. Deena Hinshaw to update Albertans about COVID-19 on Monday afternoon | CBC News

[abpoli]

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney fought Tuesday to contain a rapidly expanding COVID-19 crisis that has overrun hospitals and ignited a party revolt against his leadership.

Kenney's government also reached out to the federal government for emergency help with COVID-19 hospitalizations that may soon force doctors to ration life-saving resources.

Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver asked the government for air transportation to move patients to care facilities outside Alberta and for more intensive care nurses and respiratory therapists.

The premier is facing not only public but internal backlash from the United Conservative rank and file as well as from caucus members over his handling of the pandemic.

Last week, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, admitted the fuse on the explosive fourth wave was lit on July 1, when Kenney lifted almost all health restrictions, faster than any other province. He said it was safe to do so, because 70 per cent of eligible Albertans had received at least one dose of vaccine.

Kenney declared COVID-19 was effectively defeated and that a future rise in cases could be accommodated in the health system. He said he didn't envision needing a fallback.

After that, vaccination numbers effectively stalled and fell behind other provinces. That prompted Kenney to recently offer $100 to anyone getting a first or second shot.

His government failed to act during July and August as case numbers spiralled and Kenney went on vacation.

Last week, he said he didn't act earlier because he didn't believe Albertans would have followed renewed health restrictions.

Read the entire article here

[allthecanadianpolitics]

It took 10 months for the Danielle Smith government's replacement for Dr. Deena Hinshaw to speak publicly for the first time. Nearly a year on the job, and nine days into an E. coli outbreak that's sickened dozens of daycare-going children.

Tuesday was chief medical officer of health Dr. Mark Joffe's crisis-time debut, and what moment might Albertans remember from it? How the public health leader said there was no urgency to talk to them up to this point — not the sort of line you'll find in the crisis communications textbook.

This isn't the COVID public health emergency, and for so many reasons Joffe isn't Hinshaw, fired by Smith shortly after she became premier. But Albertans had come to expect a certain level of timeliness, thorough information-sharing and trust-building when it came time for public health leadership.

It's hard to make arguments that the public appetite for answers and context was satisfied in this first effort. 

Joffe and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange had spent a week leaving all communications to those at Alberta Health Services closer to the front lines of the rapidly growing emergency. The outbreak at several daycares which share a common kitchen has infected 264 people (mostly children), hospitalized more than two dozen and required six to go on dialysis, the treatment for kidney failure. [...]

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Note from the poster @el-shab-hussein: Motherfucker what are you getting paid for if you're not gonna do the only thing you explicitly have to do at your job? Tagging: @politicsofcanada, @abpoli, @vague-humanoid

[latest-breaking-news-video]

Watch Alberta ethics commissioner ends investigation into Dr. Deena Hinshaw's dismissal from Indigenous well being job | CBC News - Canada Trending News

[atlanticcanada]

First cases of Omicron COVID-19 variant detected in Canada: What we know

Officials have confirmed the first cases detected in Canada of the Omicron COVID-19 variant amid warnings that it remains unclear just how transmissible and severe infection by the highly-mutated variant might be.

On Sunday, it was revealed that two people from Ottawa, who had returned from a trip to Nigeria, tested positive for the variant of concern first detected in southern Africa.

The travellers entered Canada at Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, where COVID-19 testing was completed, and then travelled to Ottawa, Ontario officials said Monday. The patients are in isolation and Ottawa Public Health is conducting case and contact management.

Newsletter sign-up: Get The COVID-19 Brief sent to your inbox

The province is also following up on four more possible cases of the Omicron variant -- two in the Hamilton, Ont., area and two in Ottawa.

Officials in Quebec also confirmed one case of the Omicron variant during a press briefing Monday.

Ontario and Quebec are the first provinces to confirm detected cases of the variant, but health officials across the country have commenced targeted testing of people who have travelled from one of the seven southern African countries under federal travel restrictions.

Alberta's top doctor said Sunday that public health officials in her province were contacting people who had travelled from "one of the countries of interest" in the past 14 days to tell them to self-isolate.

"We are working with health officials across the country to monitor the Omicron situation closely," Dr. Deena Hinshaw tweeted on Sunday. "There are currently no confirmed cases of this COVID-19 variant in Alberta."

Experts warned it was only a matter of time before the variant made its way into Canada. And while federal officials say the detection of the cases shows COVID-19 screening efforts are working, Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says Canadians should expect more cases of the variant to be confirmed on Canadian soil.

"This development demonstrates that our monitoring system is working," Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said in a statement Sunday.

"As the monitoring and testing continues with provinces and territories, it is expected that other cases of this variant will be found in Canada."

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE OMICRON VARIANT

Little is known about the B.1.1.529 variant, now known as Omicron, which was declared a variant of concern last week by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Although it has been linked to a rapid rise in cases in South Africa, WHO officials say it is not yet clear whether the variant is more transmissible or causes more severe illness than other coronavirus variants.

Initial research into Omicron has sparked concern from researchers because it has more than 30 mutations of the spike protein which can change the way a virus infects cells and spreads. These mutations can also make it harder to for the body’s immune system to attack it.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore, said it is still too early to determine what impact the Omicron variant may have on public health protocols or the province’s health-care system, noting a lack of data on the transmissibility of the variant.

“When we saw Delta take over as a dominant strain, it took three to four months… it may be a two to three month transition if [Omicron] is more infectious than Delta,” he said. “We will have greater clarity in the coming weeks.”

While news of this latest variant has sparked calls from some to increase COVID-19 booster shot campaigns – like in the U.K., where officials have moved to offer booster shots to all adults just three months after their second dose – some experts say we need to learn more about the mutation before we draw conclusions about how vaccinations will be affected.

"There's really no evidence to link boosters specifically to protection against this variant and I think there's a lot of other steps we need to take first, and it would be premature, I think, to jump immediately to say, 'OK, boosters are our solution,'" Dr. Fahad Razak, an epidemiologist at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, emphasized during an appearance on CTV News Channel on Saturday.

He added that the importance of other public health measures remains, including proper air ventilation and filtration, mask-wearing and vaccinations.

TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS DRAW IRE

Confirmation of the arrival of the B.1.1.529 variant in Canada comes just days after the country implemented new travel restrictions on foreign nationals who had visited several countries in southern Africa in the last two weeks.

Nigeria, however, is not on the list of countries affected by Canada's travel ban.

Moore said Monday that the province is conducting genomic sequencing on all eligible COVID-19 tests in the province in order to screen for Omicron and other variants.

Moore said that, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada, 375 people have returned from those countries of concern and will be contacted to undergo testing for the Omicron variant.

With cases now confirmed in 15 countries – including Scotland, Germany, Australia and Hong Kong – there has been some concern that restricting flights from African countries alone is not enough to stop the spread of the variant.

“These travel bans on particular countries in southern Africa are not going to be sufficient or are not going to be what stems the flow of the Omicron variant across our country,” infectious disease expert Dr. Dale Kalina told CTV News Channel Monday.

“The reality is it's already here and it's not probably just from individuals who travel to other countries, as we're seeing around the world.”

“What we do have in place already here in Canada is quarantine measures and vaccination mandates for anyone who's coming into the country… and those are the types of things that are really going to help us.”

The federal government is expected to be questioned Monday whether it will expand those travel restrictions to include more countries.

This comes ahead of new re-entry testing requirements for fully vaccinated Canadians and permanent residents. As of Nov. 30, fully vaccinated residents returning home after short trips to the United States and abroad will no longer have to provide proof of a negative molecular test, such as a PCR test.

A molecular test is still required for re-entry of those taking trips abroad lasting more than 72 hours.

Meanwhile, Ontario officials are urging the federal government to take stronger action at the border, suggesting that everyone be tested for COVID-19 upon arrival, not just before leaving for Canada.

"The best defence against the omicron variant is stopping it at our border. In addition to the measures recently announced, we continue to urge the federal government to take the necessary steps to mandate point-of-arrival testing for all travellers irrespective of where they're coming from to further protect against the spread of this new variant,” read Sunday’s joint statement from Moore and Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott.

from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/3CYfT0s

[feminist-space]

"To local leaders in the remote village of Old Crow in Yukon’s far north, the young Quebec couple who got off a plane last Friday immediately “looked out of place.”

When they asked the man and woman what had brought them to town, they were shocked by the response: The pair had driven across the country to Whitehorse and then flown to Old Crow to seek refuge from the coronavirus pandemic — a journey inspired by a dream.

“They perceived our community as a life raft from COVID-19,” Dana Tizya-Tramm, chief of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation, told the Star.

Townsfolk knew what they had to do: Isolate the couple and get them on the next flight out. In the Arctic community of roughly 280 people, Old Crow has only one nursing station and a doctor who flies in once every couple of months; they can’t risk the chance of a coronavirus outbreak.

About 48 hours later, police escorted the couple onto a plane, which took them back to Whitehorse.

“With the low capacity within remote communities we’re more susceptible to the virus than large cities. You’ll be endangering remote communities. They have not only endangered themselves but our community as well,” Tizya-Tramm said.

“Old Crow is not open for business.”

The bizarre case, first reported by VICE Media and CBC North, underscores the concern that leaders in remote communities all across the country have been expressing for days: They welcome visitors, but now’s not the time to be travelling.

On Monday, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, reiterated this point in a conference call with reporters. People wanting to travel north so they can get out of large urban centres should not, as the result in small communities could be “catastrophic” if someone unknowingly brings the virus with them.

“My colleagues in Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon are very concerned about having people coming from places like Alberta, B.C., Ontario, where we know we’re having local transmission,” Hinshaw said.

“They’re concerned about having cases imported into northern and more remote areas where … health care services are somewhat limited and just not robust.”

The Star reached out to the couple Monday at the Whitehorse hotel where they’re in isolation. A woman answered the phone, but hung up. When the Star called later, staff said they were out for a walk. They did not return messages.

The fly-in community of Old Crow is located in a region said to be rich in ice age fossils and known for its history of muskrat trapping and caribou hunting. Its streets are lined with log cabins and smokehouses.

Paul Josie, the Old Crow’s emergency management co-ordinator, said the couple landed Friday morning with a handful of other passengers on an Air North flight.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, Josie said he’s been handing out materials to arriving passengers with instructions on how to self-isolate.

He said the couple from Quebec immediately stood out.

“Living in a fishbowl, you recognize faces,” he said. “Usually the people that come up that are essential workers, you know them as well.”

Initially, Josie thought they just might be flying through to another destination. But then he noticed their luggage tags said “YOC,” the airport call letters for Old Crow.

He started in with the questions.

They told him they were in town in search of work and a place to stay.

After consulting with Tizya-Tramm, Josie decided to immediately isolate the couple in one of the apartments above the Co-op store in town.

“They were going to walk up to the community. I told them it’s not a good idea,” Josie said. Instead he had them load their suitcases and backpacks onto the toboggan connected to his snowmobile and he drove them into town.

“My goal and priority was to get them to where they were staying and make sure there was no contact in the community.”

He said the couple did not raise a fuss.

Kelli Howie, general manager of the Old Crow Retail Co-op store, said the couple was instructed to remain in their room and that if they needed food they could call the store and have it delivered.

At one point, she said, they ordered a dozen eggs, bacon, bread and butter. The cost for their two-night stay was $300 a night, which they put on a credit card.

As they settled in, Howie said she couldn’t help but wonder: What made them think they could just fly into town like that?

“If you don’t have a job, and don’t have business here, don’t come here. We lack the services. We have a nurse, three police officers. Don’t come. Stay where you are,” she said.

“If you bring (coronavirus) here you’ve wiped out the community. It’s that simple.”

Tizya-Tramm said he later spoke to the couple by phone and learned of their intent to move to the community.

“They said they sold everything to get here,” he said. “It was just an irrational fear … you can hear and feel it through the phone. They were scared. They felt like Old Crow was the safest place in Canada to weather the COVID-19 storm.”

He said the couple told him that the idea to come to Old Crow came to them in their sleep.

“He told me they made contact with the community through a dream.”

Unfortunately for this couple, he said, “dreams are not passports.”

“When I told him there was no available housing, he literally asked, ‘What should I do?’ ” Tizya-Tramm said. “He indicated to me they had no plan B.”

Yukon RCMP confirmed Monday in an email they had been notified about the couple’s arrival over the weekend.

“We were then requested to assist in ensuring their departure on Sunday, March 29th, which was carried out safely,” the email said.

As for whether charges were being contemplated under the Public Health Act, RCMP directed that question to Yukon government officials.

Sunny Patch, deputy chief of staff for the government of Yukon, said in a brief email “there are no charges at this time and the couple have been isolated.”

Back in Old Crow, community members were praising the swift preventative measures.

“Everybody did what they were supposed to do,” Howie said.

The only chore left for her was to find someone to sanitize the apartment above her store."

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/03/30/dreams-are-not-passports-remote-arctic-village-residents-recount-bizarre-encounter-with-quebec-couple-fleeing-coronavirus.html

[jandjsalmon]

How’s Canada doing?

Do you mean in general or specifically in this time of crisis?

I can say - MY province has the most awesome Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Deena Hinshaw is the bee's knees. We all love her. She's become a folk hero - reminding us regularly that  “We are in this together even if we’re far apart.”

[stubbymacpherson]

The UCP Wants To Chop Albertans’ Health Care

First it was Sundre, then Stettler and now Lac La Biche. In the midst of a pandemic, we have doctors withdrawing their services from their local rural hospitals. Nurses were also told that there would be layoffs, and the provincial government was also pushing privatization. This is the price we have to pay for electing a government who is too short-sighted to properly fund critical services like health care. That same government promised us during their election campaign that front line services would not be affected.

As Albertans, we need to be thankful that the previous NDP government built up the health care system in this province, and had the wisdom to appoint such a capable person as Dr. Deena Hinshaw as our chief medical officer, who despite all this political discord has kept her focus on what is important and has done an admirable job guiding our heath care workers (as well as the public) through this emergency, while ignoring the political storm going on in the background.

Thankfully, this pandemic hit us before the UCP really had a chance to start dismantling our health care system. To see what could have happened here had the UCP followed through with many of their plans, we need look no further than Ontario to see the results of a Conservative government's cuts to their health care system. Alberta has tested 21,029 people per million, while Ontario has only managed 9,312 per million. In Ontario, 478 people have died from Covid-19, and there has been an increase of 55 deaths in the past 24 hours. By comparison, there has only been 50 total deaths in Alberta, and only two deaths in the past three days. Two of those days we saw no new deaths. Our stockpiles of equipment had been so built up that we were able to ship significant amounts to other provinces without affecting our own supplies, while Ontario has already been days from running out on multiple occasions.

When all of this is done, you can be sure that the UCP will be tooting their own horn about what a "great job" they did, but remember that it is not them who deserve the credit, but rather our great medical professionals who stepped up despite the UCP's best efforts to undermine them, and the previous government's wisdom to build up our health care system so that it could be better prepared for emergencies like this. It's about priorities, people. Let's all keep in mind exactly what the UCP's priorities were before this crisis hit us.

[smallstudiodesign]

Portraits 2020: The Heroines in fight against CoVid19 — the women in Canada who lead the way in the war against our invis enemy. Doctors on charge: Dr. Theresa Tam (Canada) , Dr Bonnie Henry (British Columbia), & Dr. Deena Hinshaw •||• Thank you 🙏🏼 Vancouver, B.C. healthcare services & other essential workers — happy to report in British Columbia, we’ve managed to “flatten the curve” on CoVid19 ... Together we’ll beat this ... Meanwhile — beautiful murals on protective plywood overlaid on the city’s many downtown glass display windows by many talented artists ... decoratively adorn the otherwise solemn solitude of empty streets ... - Featured David Austin tagged @splifrollerr (sp?) • #covidkindness • #covid2020 • #covi̇d_19 • #covid19 • •||• iPhone photos by @christopherlylesmall @smallstudiodesign Shot #onlocation at Hotel Europe, Gastown, Vancouver, BC 🇨🇦 • #smallstudiodesign • (at Hotel Europe (Vancouver)) https://www.instagram.com/p/B-n8uSRBw_B/?igshid=1gic5usq58l6l

[mtariqniaz]

Health experts warn vaccine-preventable illnesses could rise in Alberta

Health experts warn vaccine-preventable illnesses could rise in Alberta

Pandemic-related delays in routine childhood immunization rates are prompting concerns about the possible resurgence of vaccine-preventable illnesses in Alberta. New York declared a state disaster emergency late last week as it scrambled to contain the polio virus, which has turned up in wastewater. Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, recently called on Albertans to…