Ontario reviewing 2nd dose timeline for COVID-19 vaccine
The assistant scientific director of Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table Dr. Nathan Stall suggested the province has the capability to pivot and rework the vaccine schedule for those who need a second dose sooner. “They are evaluating evidence as it arrives and they will make decisions based on that,” Stall said. “This is the nature of evidence in real time.”
Research raises questions over delayed second vaccine doses for seniors
Dr. Samir Sinha said there's already enough evidence for NACI to revise its advice, suggesting some urgency as he pointed to statistics that find 96 per cent of COVID-19 linked deaths are people over the age of 60.
"As a geriatrician, I'm becoming increasingly uncomfortable about the strategy of delaying these doses for older people and in particular, older people living in congregate care settings, and those who are highly vulnerable," said Sinha.
'It's very troubling': Just over half of Manitobans 80 or older received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine
"It's very troubling," said Dr. Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA. Stall said people who are over the age of 80 are some of the highest risk of poor COVID-19 outcomes.
"We need to be acknowledging this problem, making sure that we are trying to address as many of these barriers and identify and find as many of these people as well," he said.
Loved ones worried about low staff vaccination rates at nursing homes
Dr. Samir Sinha, director of health policy research at the NIA had told CBC's Ottawa Morning that Ontario's rate of vaccinations among nursing home staff is "embarrassingly low."
"I don't really want to blame anything on the staff here, because, frankly, Ontario's support for its staff and its long-term care and retirement homes hasn't honestly been terrific," said Sinha.
COVID-19 vaccine: Second dose delay ‘more risky’ for seniors, experts warn
By: Saba Aziz
“Older people… have the weakest immune systems amongst us and COVID-19 preys on that,” said Samir Sinha, director of health policy research at the NIA. “This ‘one size fits all’ approach to delaying the second dose of the vaccine by up to 16 weeks may not be right for everyone.”
Why guidelines for what Canadians can and can't do after getting COVID-19 vaccines are still unclear
Dr. Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA, says communication from public health officials on what people can do after getting a COVID-19 vaccine has been lacking — especially for older Canadians. "I've had patients who have showed up at the vaccination clinic expecting to get their second shot and have been turned away, so they are devastated emotionally, I've had people who have found out immediately beforehand," he said.
Routine COVID-19 testing for LTC staff not useful, Ontario science table argues
By: Wendy Leung
“We know that overall, the yield of this testing has been quite low, and we know that there are several direct and indirect harms and opportunity costs of this testing,” said Toronto geriatrician Nathan Stall, a member of the science table who co-wrote the brief.
Housebound seniors worried they’ll be forgotten in vaccine drive
“We can probably estimate that across Ontario, there’s 40,000 individuals that we would see be homebound. People who for example getting a vaccine in their own home is a necessity, not a convenience,” said Dr. Samir Sinha, director of health policy research at the NIA.
Nearly 200,000 Ontarians aged 80 and older have not signed up for a COVID-19 vaccination
Current vaccine uptake among Ontario's 80-plus-year-olds is "one of the more upsetting figures I've seen in some time," said Dr. Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA.
"That is truly a very large number of individuals we are missing." he said. "Compared to our peers like Quebec, we are well behind when it comes to vaccinating this population."
How B.C.’s early success in protecting vulnerable seniors evaporated in COVID-19 second wave
By: Justine Hunter
A report by the National Institute on Ageing shows that between Sept. 1, 2020, and Feb. 15, there were 7,181 COVID-19 deaths in long-term care in Canada – a small decrease compared with the first wave. The decline was largely because of Quebec’s response to its devastating outcomes in the first wave, with a massive hiring blitz to improve staffing in care homes and the creation of infection prevention and control teams. In B.C., the second-wave death toll in care homes was almost five times higher than in the first wave: 567 residents.
Samir Sinha, a co-author of the report, said British Columbia did remarkable work, initially. A key innovation was a single-site order that provided workers in care homes job security without juggling shifts at different facilities, and full sick pay benefits so they could afford to stay home when feeling ill. The provincial government funded that at a cost of $165-million.
'It's still an institution:' Advocates urge radical change for LTC
With more than 100,000 people occupying Ontario’s 78,890 beds each year, this represents about 8,000 people who may be able to avoid an LTC home, said the National Institute on Ageing, a think tank at Ryerson University, which has proposed a “virtual long-term care @ home program.”
Ontario expanding vaccination efforts
Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA, joined CTV News Channel to discuss Ontario's expanding vaccination efforts and how that impacts older adults.
How Cognitive Tests Strip Seniors of Their Rights
The system that’s been created to protect seniors can also work to support them—to see them as individuals with their own preferences and desires. Samir Sinha, the director of health policy research at the NIA, tells me a story about Josephine, a patient he got to know well. Josephine was blind and bedridden, and doctors wanted to place her in a nursing home—a decision she vehemently opposed. Some assessors may have seen Josephine as a woman incapable of deciding what was in her best interest.
Which province is winning the COVID-19 vaccine rollout race? Experts weigh in
By: Saba Aziz
“Overall, I think Alberta, like some other prairie provinces, is really adhering to the NACI (National Advisory Committee on Immunization) guidance and just really making it very clear and efficient how they roll out the vaccine,” said Samir Sinha, director of health policy research at the NIA.
Restaurants in Ontario regions with grey lockdown COVID-19 restrictions to be allowed outdoor dining
Dr. Nathan Stall, Associate Fellow at the NIA, said while officials have to balance difficult considerations when it comes to restrictions, it’s risky to loosen things up with variants spreading, hospitals under pressure and vaccinations not happening quickly enough to protect the most vulnerable.
“These kinds of moves … end up promoting people being mobile and gathering and having opportunities to transmit COVID-19. We’ve seen it before,” Stall said in an interview.
Long-term-care homes needed staff during COVID-19. So they turned to gig workers. Inside the ‘Uber-ization’ of health care
LTCs needed staff during #COVID19. Now, apps are matching them with gig workers. Like Uber drivers, they're independent contractors who fall outside basic employment laws.
The costly, complicated reasons Ontario's long-term care system can't be easily privatized
By: Joanne Laucius
Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at the NIA in Toronto, said it’s a plan that doesn’t add up.
Each new long-term care bed costs between $212,000 and $268,000 to develop, said Dr. Sinha. The NDP plan calls for 20,000 beds above and beyond the 30,000 the Ford government has already promised. Sinha estimates that will cost between $4.25 billion and $5.35 billion. That doesn’t leave a lot of money left over to convert private LTC to non-profit, he said.
Ontario let a ‘flood’ of temp agencies into long-term care during COVID-19. How precarious work put residents and caregivers at risk
By: Jennifer Yang
When COVID hit, this movement between work sites became a huge risk factor. The problem was recognized early in British Columbia, which moved quickly to limit workers to a single employer. Importantly, the province also offered all workers full-time pay, regardless of how many shifts were available — a move that stabilized B.C.’s workforce and, “frankly, set them up for success during their first wave,” said Dr. Samir Sinha, director of geriatrics at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital.
After a year of pandemic separation, grandparents can't wait to hug their grandchildren again
Waiser is not alone. Dr. Samir Sinha, director of health policy at the National Institute on Aging, says the pandemic has had an enormous impact on grandparents and their entire families.
"For so many grandparents and grandchildren, these are precious bonds that really bring together two different generations and allow people to interact in different ways with each other. That helps them both emotionally, but also physically as well," he said.
WHO recommends use of AstraZeneca vaccine
Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Health Policy Research at NIA joins Anita Sharma to discuss how some countries paused use over reports of blood clots although no link has been found.
