Families and youth aged 12 and older lined up for a COVID-19 vaccine at Gordon A Brown Middle School in Toronto in May.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
With youth ages 12 and over eligible for COVID-19 vaccination — and as trials for younger children move ahead — parental hesitancy is emerging as the new challenge for COVID-19 vaccine programs.
The question of whether we should be vaccinating children and adolescents against COVID-19 is currently being debated. Here’s why the answer is ‘not yet’.
New Zealand’s approval of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for 12-15 year olds will bring the number of people eligible for the jab to 85% of the population, raising the chance of reaching collective immunity.
One of this and one of that might be a good strategy to coronavirus vaccination.
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Various companies use different ingredients and different delivery systems in their COVID-19 vaccines. Researchers are investigating whether it’s better for individuals to mix what’s available.
Vaccination has saved millions of lives throughout the course of history.
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Vaccines have successfully curtailed viral diseases for decades. But as COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy shows, mistrust and misinformation continue to put lives at risk.
Michelle Wise, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
The latest advice is to offer COVID-19 vaccines to women at any stage of pregnancy to protect them from a higher risk of severe disease – and to give their babies an early boost of antibodies.
Pharmacist Barbara Violo arranges all the empty vials of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine that she has provided to customers at an independent pharmacy in Toronto.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Hundreds of thousands of Canadians got a shot of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine for their first dose. They now have a choice for their second dose: AstraZeneca again, or Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccine?
Some people can still get sick after getting vaccinated for COVID-19.
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Vaccinated people can still get infected with the coronavirus. So if you have symptoms of COVID-19, getting tested can protect others and help health officials keep an eye on the virus.
The federal budget contains money for big-ticket items like the SKA telescope and mRNA vaccines. But dwindling funds for universities and fundamental science will leave us vulnerable to future problems.
People line up at a mass vaccination centre during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mississauga, Ont.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Canadian public health organizations have run into a serious communication problem about the AstraZeneca vaccine. Crisis management and communication theories explain what’s gone wrong.
In the spotlight for its role in COVID-19 vaccines – and a Nobel Prize – mRNA is not a new invention. It’s a crucial messenger molecule at work every day in every cell in your body.
RNA carries copies of genetic information from DNA.
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An immunologist explains that you get some protection from the first dose of the mRNA vaccines but you need two to build up strong immunity, particularly to newer coronavirus variants.
New mRNA vaccines use genes from the coronavirus to produce immunity.
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So far, most vaccines in the US are mRNA vaccines. These represent a new technology and are likely to take over the vaccine world. But how do they work? What are their weaknesses? Five experts explain.