Canada isn’t responding with foresight when it comes to COVID-19

Global problems require global solutions. With COVID-19, however, we’re seeing that our governance mechanisms don’t drive global solutions even when our lives depend on it. In the current global landscape, the virus outsmarted us. Global vaccine roll-out has been inequitable: less than three per cent of people in low-income countries have been vaccinated as the richest countries hoard vaccines, and refuse to support waivers on COVID-19 vaccine patent rights or to keep pharmaceutical companies from bullying middle- and lower-income countries. This is an article by Gloria Novovic.

RNAO addresses nursing crisis, Omicrom-led wave and preventing health-system collapse

Three RNAO media releases during the last week addressed the current pandemic context in Ontario and the responses from government. 1. RNAO’s media conference - Nursing crisis risks patient safety and health of Ontarians. 2. Response to the Ontario government Dec. 15 announcement - RNAO welcomes plan to move up eligibility dates for third doses; urges additional public health measures. 3. Response to Ontario public health measures announced Dec. 17 - RNAO says government’s new measures essential but not enough to blunt Omicron’s force.

South African envoy calls on Canada to support waiver on COVID-19 vaccines

The following is a Nov. 30, 2021 article from Mike Blanchfield and Sarah Smellie, The Canadian Press. If we don’t want to see more variants such as Omicron, Canada and other rich countries need to address vaccine inequity in the world. In May 2021 RNAO issued an action alert calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to ensure global access.

Rich countries only shared 14% of COVID-19 vaccine doses promised to poorer nations

The rate of vaccination in the poorest countries remains dismal, and rich countries such as Canada continue to fail in their promises to help. The following is an October 22 CBC Radio article. The original article can be found here. It was written by Mehek Mazhar. Interview with Brittany Lambert produced by Katie Geleff.

RNAO’s continuing media profile: The October 2021 report

Throughout the month of October, RNAO continued to speak to the media about the impact COVID-19 is having on nurses and other health-care workers. Specifically, we spoke about the vaccine mandate for long-term care (LTC) workers and the urgent need to extend it to all health-care workers across all health sectors, the Ontario government’s worrisome reopening plan, and our urgent call to repeal Bill 124. Below is a summary of themes and examples of our extensive media exposure in October.

MSF: Following full FDA approval, Pfizer-BioNTech must share COVID-19 vaccine technology to boost global supply

Earlier this week the Food and Drug Administration gave full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the US. The following is a media release from Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) addressing the COVID-19 crisis in Africa and the devastating lack of vaccines.

Calling on Canada to back WHO Moratorium on Booster Shots and Donate Vaccines

The following article is adapted from the website of the Global Strategy Lab (GSL), a joint initiative of York University and the University of Ottawa. It excerpts from an August 16 opinion article in the Toronto Star by GSL Research Fellow Dr. Roojin Habibi, GSL Director Dr. Steven Hoffman and University of Toronto Professor Dr. Lisa Forman.