CMAT gets ready to head to Poland and Ukraine – how you can help their urgent appeal

2022-03-03 – Canadian Medical Assistance Teams’ Executive Director Valerie Rzepka explained why providing health and medical help is extremely important for countries facing conflicts or refugee crises. The charity has spoken about its work to provide vital medical and healthcare support for the Ukrainian people following the invasion of their country by Russia – and how Canadians can help.

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.

What we know about Omicron two weeks after it became a variant of concern

Two weeks after the World Health Organization designated Omicron a variant of concern, it has dominated headlines, sparking renewed fears about the spread of COVID-19 and forcing countries to strengthen their vaccination campaigns with booster shots. This is a 10 December 2021 article by Nicole Bogart, CTVNews.ca, @nlynnbogart.

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.

Omicron edition: Uncertainty, uncertainty, uncertainty

What do we know about the Omicron variant of concern? The following is a 28 November article by Zeynep Tufekci that appeared in her blog Insight. She is an associate professor at the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with an affiliate appointment at the Department of Sociology.

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.