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Advocates across the country are calling on provincial governments to adjust COVID-19 vaccine prioritization so cancer patients receive their second dose within four weeks rather than waiting up to 16 weeks.
Concern over a delayed second dose comes from preliminary data out of the U.K. which found people with solid cancers (a physical tumour) and blood cancers had a much lower antibody response following just one dose of the Pfizer vaccine compared to healthy people. When a second booster was given 21 days later, nearly all solid cancer patients had a much higher antibody response. This means delaying a second dose could prevent patients from having a fuller response to the vaccine and leaves them susceptible to COVID-19 while they wait for their second jab.
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Online classes begin for many Calgary students amid rising COVID-19 rate Bowness High School in northwest Calgary on Wednesday, April 7, 2021. Photo by Darren Makowichuk/Postmedia
Thousands of students in Calgary and in northern Alberta are shifting to online learning today because of rising COVID-19 infection rates.
Education Minister Adriana LaGrange said last week that Calgary students in grades 7 through 12 would make the move to remote classes. School divisions in Fort McMurray also announced Friday that students in those same grades would be learning from home.
LaGrange said soaring infection rates have put schools under “operational pressures,” sometimes resulting in severe staff shortages.
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