Canada will recommend AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine for those over 65, documents show

By: Adam Miller

Dr. Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA, said issues with data from Scotland, regarding the effectiveness of the vaccine in older age groups, may have factored into NACI's initial decision. "Overall, what has happened with the AstraZeneca vaccine has been very, very unfortunate from almost the get-go," said Stall, who is a member of NACI but does not speak on behalf of the committee. "So many things, unfortunately, went wrong along the way."

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Volunteers help Ontario seniors get COVID-19 vaccines

Volunteers have stepped in to help Ontario seniors aged 80 or older book COVID-19 vaccine appointments. They're also helping with rides to vaccination centres. Dr. Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA, joins CBC The National.

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Ontario Premier calls tomorrow's vaccine booking system launch a 'milestone'

Anticipation and worry builds ahead of Monday's launch of Ontario's vaccine web portal, after some experience errors and glitches during trial phase. Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA, joined CBC News to discuss.

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Ontario's vaccine portal officially launches Monday

Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA, joined CP24 to discuss the importance of the covid-19.ontario.ca/book-vaccine online portal for vaccinating older adults living in the community.

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Why Canada's confusing COVID-19 vaccine guidelines could be leaving seniors at risk

By: Adam Miller

"When you actually look at the data about who's the greatest risk from getting seriously ill and dying from COVID-19, the No. 1 factor is age," said Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA.

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Covid-19 Slammed Canada’s Nursing Homes. Now Deaths Are Way Down.

Dr. Samir Sinha, co-chairman of Ryerson University’s aging institute, said the number of Covid-19 outbreaks at the country’s 5,800 nursing homes has plummeted by 70% since early January. This coincides with marked declines over the past two months in the seven-day average of confirmed Covid-19 cases, from over 9,000 to under 3,000, and related hospitalizations, from over 4,000 to 1,600.

Dr. Sinha said the bulk of Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and related deaths nationwide now involve individuals 65 and over who still live at home. “That’s why the race is on to get as many of them vaccinated as we can,” he said. Provinces, such as Ontario, are now focusing on that segment of the population in the second phase of their vaccination rollouts.

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Deadly second wave of COVID-19 exposes cracks in Manitoba’s long-term care system

By: Josh Crabb

Dr. Samir Sinha, director of health policy research at the NIA, sees what happened at Maples as emblematic of what took place in some other care homes in Winnipeg and across Manitoba during the second wave of the pandemic.

“I think people realized how bad this could get so quickly and I think now there’s been a lot of lessons unfortunately learned with a number of Manitobans unfortunately having passed away,” said Sinha. “We need to anticipate that care can collapse very quickly when a virus spreads into a home.”

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The bubble is suffocating the residents’: Why calls are growing to loosen COVID-19 restrictions at nursing homes

By: Maria Sarrouh

“Now that we know this population is protected, it’s time to liberate them,” said Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA. Loosening restrictions means residents can participate in more social activities, leave the premises for some fresh air and most importantly, see more family members. They’ve lived under what Stall calls “arguably the strictest public health restrictions of any population in society” and experienced a “high concentration of mortality”; more than 50 per cent of all Ontario COVID-19 fatalities — 3,760 out of 7,109 — were residents or staff at LTC homes, as of March 11.

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Marking one year of the COVID-19 pandemic

Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA, joined CTV News Channel to discuss what the COVID-19 pandemic has taught all of us about state of eldercare in Canada and what needs to be done to fix it.

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With most long-term care residents vaccinated, restoring their quality of life is urgent, experts say

By: Nicole Ireland

The fact that different long-term care homes have achieved different levels of vaccination among residents, staff and family caregivers means "targeted guidance" is important, said Dr. Samir Sinha, director of health policy research at the NIA.

Homes that have achieved high levels of vaccination might be able to reinstate group recreational activities — such as crafts, bingo, and exercise — or communal dining in a controlled way, such as a floor-by-floor model similar to the cohort model used in schools, Sinha said

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Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout: A National Town Hall

CBC News The National brings Canadians and health experts together for a virtual town hall to get answers to some of the biggest questions about the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, featuring Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA.

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Should vaccinated people across Canada get certain freedoms? Here’s what health experts say

“I think it’s the reasonable and right thing to do,” said Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA , who also sits on Ontario’s science advisory table. “I don’t think we should be committing the entire population to the same restrictions because not everyone has had the opportunity to be vaccinated. One of my fears in all of this is we may try and be too Canadian and say, ‘If we can’t all do it together, then no one should be doing it at all,’ and I think that’s actually a bad approach here.”

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Ontario rejected proposals to protect LTC residents, deeming them 'too expensive': documents

By: Paola Loriggio

Staffing was already an issue in long-term care before the pandemic, but it grew worse after the first wave as many lost faith in the system and left the sector, Dr. Samir Sinha, director of health policy research at the NIA.

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Health expert testifies that long-term care policies weren't pursued due to the price tag

By: David Hains

Another policy idea proposed in between the first and second wave, according to geriatrician Dr. Samir Sinha, was to adopt the Quebec model of having an infection prevention and control team in each of Ontario's long-term care homes. Sinha also highlighted that additional staffing in LTCs would have been helpful, as seen in Quebec. The government has previously objected to the comparison on the grounds that Quebec hired orderlies, not personal support workers. But Sinha said they are the same thing.

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COVID-19 vaccines reducing cases, deaths in elderly despite limited outbreaks

Despite concerns about several COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care homes where residents have been vaccinated, experts say vaccines have significantly reduced severe cases and deaths from the virus, featuring an interview with NIA Associate Fellow Dr. Nathan Stall.

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‘A stunning success of science.’ Ontario reports fourth straight day with no COVID-19 deaths in long-term care

By Breanna Xavier-Carter

Dr. Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA, predicts that for long-term-care homes, the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us. “We’re seeing spectacular results when it comes to the impact of the vaccine, it’s literally stopping the virus dead in its tracks,” Stall told the Star.

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Elderly, Vaccinated and Still Lonely and Locked Inside

By: Catherine Porter

“If we really don’t allow people more civil and social liberty, and allow them to meaningfully engage in social activities in some way, these people are going to give up, as many of them have already done,” said Dr. Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA.

While overprotective government regulations have prevented long-term care homes from adjusting their restrictions, they are only partially responsible, said Dr. Samir Sinha, co-chair of the National Institute on Ageing . “The majority of nursing homes across the country have found an excuse to not do something,” he said. “You even have these homes who are marketing it, ‘We’re going above and beyond to keep you safe.’ We translate that to mean, ‘We are locking you in your room for good.’ They are actually violating people’s human rights.”

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'Maddening': Faster Ontario Vaccine Rollout May Have Saved These Lives

Dr. Samir Sinha says that the rollout to long-term care residents took too long. He’s the director of health policy research at Ryerson University’s National Institute on Aging.“Ontario took a very different approach and a pace towards vaccinating this population, which, frankly, has just cost unnecessary lives,” he told HuffPost

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Community group to gain control of nursing home for Korean seniors

By: Karen Howlett

Samir Sinha, the director of health policy research at the NIA who advised Arirang on its initial bid, said the latest deal is a “sweet victory” for the community. “It’s one of the very few silver linings in the pandemic.”

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Corbella: Alberta takes big steps to improve long-term care, but is it enough?

By: Licia Corbella

Increasing home care is the best and least costly way to care for frail seniors, says Dr. Samir Sinha, the director of health policy research at the NIA. “We have a recent study that shows that almost 100 per cent of seniors plan to live independently in their own homes; that’s up from pre-pandemic times,” says Sinha, who is also the director of health policy research at the NIA. “If we give them what they want, this will save the health-care system and the long-term care system a lot of money while enhancing their lives and keeping them connected to community.”

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