Coronavirus: What s happening in Canada and around the world on Feb. 7
Developers of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine expect to have a modified jab to cope with the coronavirus variant first detected in South Africa by autumn, the vaccine s lead researcher said Sunday.
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The Associated Press ·
Posted: Feb 07, 2021 9:30 AM ET | Last Updated: February 8
A person is seen wearing a face mask in Burnaby, B.C., on Sunday.(Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)
The rapid spread of more contagious coronavirus variants across Canada has led some hard-hit regions to question whether national public health guidelines go far enough to protect Canadians and they're sounding the alarm over the dangers of just minutes of exposure.
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IMAGE: Study co-author Dr. Samir Gupta, chief of gastroenterology at the VA San Diego Healthcare System, says some patients and primary care providers misunderstand the results of abnormal stool blood screening. view more
Credit: Christopher Menzie
A new Veterans Affairs study finds that delays in undergoing colonoscopy following an abnormal stool test increase the risk of a colorectal cancer diagnosis and cancer-related death.
The results appeared online in the journal
Gastroenterology in January 2021.
In a retrospective study of more than 200,000 Veterans, the researchers found that patients who received colonoscopy more than 13 months after an abnormal stool blood test were up to 1.3 times more likely to have colorectal cancer, compared with those who had colonoscopy up to three months after the stool test. Odds of an advanced stage of cancer at diagnosis were up to 1.7 times higher when colonoscopy was delayed beyond 16 months.
Posted: Jan 25, 2021 12:07 PM ET | Last Updated: January 25
The two-dose Moderna vaccine currently approved for use in Canada appears to protect against two key coronavirus variants, the company announced on Monday, though it may be less effective against the B1351 variant found in South Africa. (Greg Lovett /Northwest Florida Daily News/The Associated Press)
Posted: Jan 22, 2021 5:32 PM CT | Last Updated: January 22
In Saskatchewan, second doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccine will be administered up to 42 days apart. (David Sorcher) comments
Saskatchewan will start to stretch out the time between COVID-19 vaccine doses, as supplies run short.
Second doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccine will be administered up to 42 days after the first dose.
Official guidelines say the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is meant to be given as two doses, 21 days apart, while Moderna recommends spacing doses 28 days apart.
The National Advisory Council on Immunization (NACI), a body made up of scientists and vaccine experts, say provinces should follow the dosing schedule as closely as possible, but the panel is now offering some wiggle room.