Hundreds of homes across Canada did not fare that well, as ineffective infection control measures, low standards of care, and in many cases, low wages for staff, had devastating consequences. More than 55,000 residents and more than 29,000 long-term care workers have been infected with COVID-19.
The Ryerson University National Institute on Aging has tracked 15,217 COVID-19 deaths among long-term care residents since March 2020, 57 per cent of all deaths from the pandemic in Canada to date.
Are booster shots needed for the general population? Dr. Samir Sinha, NIA Director of Health Policy Research, talks to guest host Ted Henley about this debated topic.
"We know that there is waning immunity, but right now we don't necessarily have evidence to say that at this point in time, this is exactly when you need to have a booster, because it's going to reduce your risk of dying or ending up in a hospital," says Dr. Sinha.
Dr. Samir Sinha, NIA Director of Health Policy Research, said the issue of a third dose treaded on “complicated territory,” as many countries were still trying to access limited supplies to vaccinate its population with a first and second dose.
Read MoreDr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at Ryerson University’s National Institute on Ageing, told the Western Standard the pandemic made Canadians more averse to care homes than ever.
“Canadians have never aspired to end up in a long-term care home. Pretty much everybody would like to stay in their own homes for as long as possible,” Sinha said in an interview.
Federal poll workers won’t be required to be vaccinated: Elections Canada
Making sure poll workers are vaccinated would help make polling stations safer for everyone, agrees Dr. Samir Sinha, NIA Director of Health Policy Research.
“We think that the one of the greatest groups that is going to be coming into contact with millions and millions of Canadian voters are going to be those who are working and volunteering at our front line polling stations,” he said.
Assessing Canada's COVID-19 rollout
A new report released today from the NIA takes a look at Canada's vaccine rollout strategy, with a focus on older adults. "What we found was, every province and territory implemented their strategy differently, they interpreted the guidance from NACI differently, and that potentially had deadly consequences, in addition to the slow initial supply of vaccines. Delaying second doses in some places had quite deadly consequences, especially in Ontario," says Dr. Samir Sinha, NIA Director of Health Policy Research.
Read MoreDr. Samir Sinha, NIA Director of Health Policy Research, says the best way to prevent future outbreaks is to ensure staff are doubled dosed.
"If we can get 99 per cent of our residents vaccinated we need to have 99 per cent of our staff vaccinated too. It still puts a number of residents at risk, I don’t really believe that health care workers should have the right to necessarily put frail vulnerable people in their care at risk."
“The requirement to ensure that these spending plans at the provincial and territorial level with these federal dollars are detailed and made public, I don’t think that’s too big an ask, when the vast majority of Canadians have lost trust in our long-term-care systems,” says Dr. Samir Sinha, NIA Director of Health Policy Research
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