Canada's COVID-19 Response

The worst of the COVID-19 pandemic being behind us (At least I hope so!), it's possible to look back and have a good, hard look at Canada's response to the disease. The BMJ (British Medical Journal) has published an analysis that looks at the high and low points of the Canadian response. It's worth a read, especially if you're Canadian, though I'm sure it would be useful no matter what country you live in.

Here are some of the key points:

Highs

• Public health leadership included women at each level of decision making.20
• Canada became one of the most vaccinated countries with >83% of the population receiving at least one vaccine dose in February 2023.21 After Health Canada approved Pfizer-BioNTech and the Moderna covid-19 vaccine in December 2020, rollout was prioritised for Indigenous populations and those living and working in long term care homes
• Research collaborations from basic science through to clinical and health services research emerged rapidly to address urgent questions of seroprevalence 22(eg, covid-19 Immunity Task Force), correlates of infection and immunity, and outbreak mitigation factors and engagement of patients in research conduct such as knowledge synthesis

Lows

• Failure to learn from previous reports led to failure to protect older adults and staff in long term care hoes and among the highest proportions of deaths in this sector globally
• Challenges to access and delivery of effective covid-19 medications such as tocilizumab, remdesivir, and ritonavir-nirmatrelvir resulted in provinces and hospitals rationing use
• An exodus of exhausted and distressed healthcare workers, coupled with inadequate training paths for replacements, produced a critical workforce shortage that is ongoing

There are more, but you can read the article.