Health committee  I don't know how you simplify the messaging. I think you're right, there is an overwhelming amount of information out there. A lot of it is bad information, to be perfectly honest with you. I think the anti-vaccine forces have really jumped on this opportunity. I don't know how

Health committee  As for the question on the mutation, I don't think anybody knows whether a mutation is likely at all. We don't even know what happened in 1918--that's what you're alluding to--where the second wave was much worse than the first. So to be honest with you, my expectation is that th

Health committee  Essentially, herd immunity is this: you don't have to vaccinate everybody in a population to create an effective immunity within that entire population. You need to inoculate or have immunity in a certain percentage. That certain percentage depends on a lot of different factors,

Health committee  Absolutely. I think that's absolutely true. I'll tell you something, just as an aside. A lot of people are thinking, well, you know, I'm not likely to be hit, but I can tell you I think the saddest thing you'll ever see is a parent—because a lot of the people who are hit on thi

Health committee  A few months ago I would have said I was very concerned about the ventilator issue. Our model suggests we've probably got enough ventilators, or close to it, now. If you take into account the extra stores individual places have--the federal stockpile, etc.--I think we're there. W

Health committee  I think the media have their own interests, as everybody does. Do I wish they had emphasized more the importance of vaccination? Yes. How can you bring it out further? I don't know. Maybe with some TV spots. But without question, the issue of vaccination is going to be a major

Health committee  I think you're right. I've heard from some of my colleagues indirectly that many of them are skeptical that it's worth getting the vaccine. I find that, quite frankly, absolutely astonishing. There are many reasons, I think, that people are somewhat unwilling. What's going on ri

Health committee  Guillain-Barré is an autoimmune disease. It's an illness where your body's own immune system is tricked into attacking itself, and in this case it attacks your peripheral nerves so you become paralyzed, basically. That paralysis can be for weeks, or on occasion it can be permanen

Health committee  I was just shaking my head on the issue of this unpublished study that suggests that getting seasonal influenza vaccine puts you at greater risk for H1N1. I just think that's.... You know, it's unpublished. It's virtually a rumour. I don't put too much stock into it, in great par

Health committee  Let me just mention that Dr. John Marshall of the Canadian Critical Care Trials Group, who is at St. Michael's, has actually been instrumental in setting up a worldwide network to do exactly what you're suggesting, so that different people work on different areas.

Health committee  Do you mean on the narrow question of moving people around?

Health committee  I think we are close to ready. There are some areas where we can still improve. I think the hit that we're going to take is actually potentially manageable if we prepare. It's not going to be an overwhelming hit, but even if we prepare, we can't be ready for it. If we prepare for

Health committee  It has, from the context of the ICU. I've been involved in that portion of it, and in fact the Public Health Agency of Canada will shortly come out with guidelines on management of ICU patients. Several of the comments that Dr. Duncan made will be addressed. They will recommend t

Health committee  It should be in the next few weeks.

Health committee  There are two or three areas I can think of right now. One example is that most intensivists think we really need to have a system whereby we can have a real-time understanding of what the bed situation is and where the bed stresses are across the country, particularly in a pande