With vaccine shortages looming, experts are debating whether it is important to receive two doses or whether it’s better to give one dose to more people and give a second when the supply is better.
With many more months of lockdowns, mask mandates and quarantining in our futures, the government needs to get its messaging just right and we all need to manage our expectations appropriately.
Seeing the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel matters but teacher stress related to chronically under-serviced schools goes beyond COVID-19.
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Preventing teacher burnout is a community responsibility we can address. If those who have become first responders in schools withdraw we will also see adverse effects on students.
One of the most common reactions during a crisis is the urge to help others. Here a health-care worker watches as the first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are delivered to a long-term care facility in Montréal.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
While the world is dealing with the biggest health emergency in more than a century, the way people have reacted to the crisis is familiar and predictable.
Children arrive by bus at Portage Trail Community School in North York, Ont., Sept. 15, 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Teachers’ optimism is strained when they know much more could be done to minimize COVID-19 safety risks in schools and to help them support student needs during COVID-19.
Face masks are seen in the window of a shop during the COVID-19 pandemic in Montréal in December 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
Whether it’s health-care workers, kids in school or people running errands, Canadians need face masks during COVID-19. There’s no reason they shouldn’t be made here at home.
A market place in Ghana’s capital Accra. Developing countries like Ghana risk being left behind in the race to secure COVID-19 vaccines.
Christian Thompson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
A waiver on some intellectual property rules at the WTO for COVID-19 vaccines would ensure more equitable access, but wouldn’t solve all the problems facing developing countries.
A year of social disconnections, deaths, job losses and political violence may lead some people to feel overwhelmed and sad. A psychologist suggests ways to find and sustain hope.
Seniors in Fort Myers, Fla. wait for their COVID-19 vaccinations. At this site, 800 doses of vaccine were available.
Octavio Jones via Getty Images
The shipment of goods to suppliers has become technologically sophisticated. Delays in getting out the COVID-19 vaccine to people show that the breakdowns come down to something more basic.
Greater Brisbane will spend the next three days in lockdown, although this time around it’s to ensure no further spread from a single known case, rather than to suppress an existing outbreak.
Even though some people are being vaccinated for COVID-19 vaccines, most of us will need to deal with the stress of the pandemic for months to come.
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As fake news and propaganda increase, a worthwhile New Year’s resolution is getting out of the habit of spreading misinformation. And like any habit, becoming aware of triggers is the first step.
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne
Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand