Hey Ontario. Our healthcare system (and all the good things that flow from it, including the economy) is about to collapse. It's about powerful people not making hard choices that ultimately benefit everyone they are supposed to serve. What can YOU do? Empower YOURSELF. Read on:
1. Don’t spend time with people indoors if they're not in your household. If you have the privilege to follow this rule, follow it! Cosy up with your hunny bunny. Cuddle your kids. Facetime with all the people you love who are ?NOT in your household.
2. If you have to be indoors for essential tasks, keep 6 ft away + mask. Essential tasks = your job (though ask yourself... is it REALLY essential that you work indoors?) or life and death stuff. LCBO does curbside pickup, FYI.
3. Really miss the people you love who are not in your household? GET OUTSIDE! Transmission isn't zero, but it's low. Mask up if you get closer than 6 ft. (Masking up is always good. It's annoying, but less so than intubation, or no intubation cause we have no ventilators left.)
4. Get the vaccine offered to you when it’s your turn, help others get theirs when it’s their turn. When it’s not your turn, wait for your vaccine. Talk to your trusted healthcare professionals if you have concerns about vaccines. They're safe, they're essential.
If you've detected that I'm using lighthearted GIFs in this thread because I'm actually scared out of my mind, heartbroken about the inequity and science-denialism that has gotten us into this mess, and grieving for all we've lost... you know me well. Post-COVID drinks on me.
And follow the @COVIDSciOntario Science Advisory Table. We're an independent group of scientists volunteering our time - and we're your neighbours, family, friends. We care about this province, and we're trying to help by giving you the facts you need to get through this. /FIN
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I’ve spent my whole life being a rules follower. Imagine my surprise when one of my tweets from earlier today turned out, at 5 pm, to be a call for civil disobedience in Ontario, where unsafe nonessential work is okay but safer outdoor socializing isn’t. 1/n
As a WOC, my advocacy has had to be subtle, and my voice has had to be quiet. Burning it all down, leaving the table, throwing a tantrum and getting my way… these are privileges I actually don’t have if I want to have any impact. 2/n
BUT: I am aware that many other members of equity seeking groups don’t have a voice at all. And don’t have a seat at any table. I do. (Privilege is a relative thing.) So I’ll tell it to you straight: 3/n
The UK vaccine advisory group, the JCVI, recommends that people aged 18 to 29 be offered an alternative vaccine where available. This graphic (UK risks) illustrates why. Note the importance of balancing harms.
What about if your exposure risk isn't low, but MEDIUM? Frontline workers, HCWs... The harms are static, but now COVID causes more harms. Vaccine benefit becomes more pronounced.
Now what if we're in a wave (which we are, in Canada). If all you have available is AZ vaccine, check out these risk/benefit numbers. (Also note that Canada has more than AZ available - our vaccine portfolio is impressive, when compared to other countries.)
62 cerebral sinus (brain) clots, 24 splanchnic (abdominal) clots out of ~25 million AZ vaccine recipients. Serious clots, but rare. Europe's @EMA_News says benefits of AZ vaccines outweigh risks - pertinent for 🇨🇦 as we struggle with wave 3. Waiting for @MHRAgovuk to weigh in now
Above cases came from EU and UK reporting in March. However as of April 4th there were reports of 169 CSVT, 53 splanchnic clots out of 34 million AZ vaccine. @EMA_News states these updated numbers did not change their appraisal of risk:benefit.
@EMA_News felt parallels to HIT were a plausible explanation of pathophysiology.
@COVIDSciOntario brief helps clinicians identify, diagnose / rule out, and treat rare serious clots of VIPIT. Please read - and check out the figures for easy clinical reference. covid19-sciencetable.ca/sciencebrief/v… 3/n
Long 🧵 on vaccines and blood clots (from somebody who spends an inordinate amount of time thinking about, preventing & treating blood clots). #COVID19#COVID19vaccine#hemetwitter#thrombosis 1/n
Yesterday @GovCanHealth, @MHRAgovuk, @EMA_News and my profession's organization @ThrombosisCan made clear statements that risks posed by AZ vaccine are far outweighed by its benefits. Does that square with media reports? Should we really get the first shot available to us? 2/n
I love my job as a blood and blood clot specialist. (LOVE IT!) So much of it focuses on talking to people about risks & how to stay safe DESPITE those risks. A lot of common medical procedures, drugs & life experiences [aging, pregnancy] increase your blood clot risk. BUT... 3/n