Well, how do you like them apples?

The summer of 2021 will be Oh so much better!

"The pandemic is likely to recede by the summer with the continued adherence to public health measures and the increased distribution of vaccines!"

Dr. Adalsteinn Brown

Co-Chair, Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table

Click on this link and take a look at the first graph.

https://tgam.ca/3q3W69y

COVID 19 cases are plummeting right now in Canada and around the world. In the past six weeks, the number of new coronavirus infections reported globally has dropped almost 50 %, from five million the first week of January to about 2.7 million last week.

Worldwide, overall daily case tallies are the lowest they’ve been since October, according to the World Health Organization.

Canada has seen new infections plunge from 57,519 in the week beginning Jan. 4 to 20,776 in the past week – a 64-per-cent drop. In Ontario, we have been hovering above 1,000 for the past week which is not too bad considering that the more infectious variant is here. There are over 1200 cases of infections caused by COVID-19 variants in the country with 550 in Ontario. That's a very slow increase.

Here's why the number of new cases are falling:

1/ Stronger public health measures and stricter adherence to the rules possibly because of the fear of these new variants.

2/ In countries with relatively high rates of vaccination and infection, such as the United States and Britain, immunity could also be starting to slow the spread.

3/From what we know about other caronaviruses, they tend to peak in winter and early spring. COVID- 19 did this last year. And, it may just be doing it this year which means, we could be past the winter peak and heading into a much better spring and summer. In the Northern Hemisphere, influenza usually rises in December, peaks in early- to mid-January and falls off by mid-February. And that’s what we may be seing with COVID-19.

And all this, just as the vaccines arrive by the millions.

Today was tough. March might be difficult for all of us. In two weeks we will reach the first anniversary of the day the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. That's a tough anniversary to swallow. March is not the greatest month weather wise; fog, grey skies and muddy melting snow. Take care of your mental health and reach out to people who may be in trouble.

More good news, and believe it or not, I had trouble deciding what good news to share; there is a growing body of evidence that says that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines not only reduce the risk of someone becoming infected with COVID by 93 % or more but that these vaccines also prevent a vaccinated person from spreading the disease.

"We are confident that vaccination against COVID-19 reduces the chances of transmitting the virus"

Kate Grabowski, John's Hopkin's epidemiologist.

And, the AstraZeneca vaccine is about to arrive in Canada with 500,000 doses arriving this week. This vaccine is not a mRNA vaccine, it is a viral -vector vaccine. More details about this in the coming week. It is based on technology that is tried and true. It is less effective than the mRNA vaccines ( 64 % effective as opposed to 93 % effective) but studies out of the UK show that the vaccine reduces the rate of death and serious illness by 94 %. Which means that those who get this vaccine may become infected but they will not develop a serious illness. That's important. We would not have given COVID 19 a second thought if all it caused was mild cold and cough symptoms.

When and where this vaccine will be used remains to be seen. BUT IS IT THE THIRD VACCINE THAT HAS BEEN APPROVED FOR USE IN CANADA!!!

THE THIRD. This time last year, scientists were doubtful that we would have any effective vaccines within 2 years.

Well done!

Hang on tight folks. Let's get through March. And be of great cheer because by the end of it, we will feel such great optimism as our mass vaccination clinics open up.

Anne-Marie

Please share.

For mental health support here:

https://familyserviceguelph.on.ca/

For local assistance with anxiety and depression:

www.here4help.ca

CMHA WW Website: www.cmhaww.ca

Here 24/7 at 1-844-HERE-247 or www.here247.ca.

And for post-secondary students, Good2Talk

https://good2talk.ca/

For non-Facebook users, you can find this post here:

https://braceletofhope.blogspot.com/

And if you'd like to help Bracelet of Hope work towards making sure that Lesotho has access to these vaccines, donate here:

https://www.braceletofhope.ca/ways-to-

Yeah, just a bit irritable today.

But....the results are in. Part of the reason why Israel received so much of the Pfizer vaccine is that they agreed to enrol most of the population into Pfizer's ongoing mRNA vaccine trials. Good for them. Of the nine million people in Israel, nearly half have received a first dose, and a third have received both doses since the rollout of the Pfizer vaccine began on December 19th. So far, this real world study has examined about 600,000 vaccinated people against the same sized control group of unvaccinated people. Up until now, most data on the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines has come under controlled conditions in clinical trials, leaving an element of uncertainty over how results would translate into the real world where life is less predictable. Of note too is that Pfizer's Phase 3 vaccine trials looked at only 30,000 people. The more people you have enrolled in a study the more precise it's results are. Precise definition: marked by exactness and accuracy. I like the sound of that ! Thirty thousand study participants compared to 600,000 study participants? I need to ask my statistician husband how much more accurate these results are. But I already know, it's massive. Here's the good news. The research in Israel, showed that two doses of the Pfizer vaccine reduced the number of COVID infections by 94 % across all age groups. AND, this study also suggests the vaccine, is effective against the UK variant. The UK variant was the dominant strain of the virus in Israel at the time of the study. AND....At least three studies out of Israel have also suggested the vaccine reduces the transmission of COVID 19. You are not just immune to COVID 19 when vaccinated but you don't transmit the virus when vaccinated. We are still waiting for more research to conclusively prove this but this is massive. Bam, Bam and Bam. Take that COVID!!! Infections rates have fallen in Israel and the country is now easing its third national lockdown and reopened swathes of its economy including malls, shops, schools and many workplaces in the past two weeks. Have no fear folks. We will get there. Turn the news off. There is too much noise. I have had it up to here with discussions about which country or which province has given the most vaccines. Let's pass judgement in the summer when we have all had the opportunity to be vaccinated and we look outside ourselves to see who else in the world needs these vaccines. Anne-Marie Please share. I just asked the 'B' man, my statistician husband, about the difference between 30,000 and 600,000. He looked a little surprised and said, " All things being equal, the study with 600,000 would have much more precise and accurate results". Nice.... For the Wellington-Dufferin-Public Health Unit, here is the Pre-Registration Website link for everyone over 80. Register to get your vaccine. https://register.wdgpublichealth.ca Guelph Community Foundation has published a series of Vital Briefs that focus on Secondary Pandemic Effects on our health. The link to the report is: https://www.guelphcf.ca/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=-kDSQDcIjsA%3d&tabid=100. Food Insecurity, Alcohol and Substance Abuse, Employment, Families and Children.....great info. Please read! Click here to learn about 10 C's Connecting Circles for people over 50. So important to reach out and connect with others. https://10carden.ca/connecting-circles/ For non-Facebook users, you can find this post here: https://braceletofhope.blogspot.com/ And if you'd like to help Bracelet of Hope work towards making sure that Lesotho has access to these vaccines, donate here: https://www.braceletofhope.ca/ways-to-

A great day and a sign of great things to come!

What a great day! I had several calls from patients today who called just to say they had received the vaccine. Thank you for making my day. They are here! Over 600,000 just arrived in Hamilton. I heard through the grape vine that the Guelph Wellington Public Health Unit now has the capacity to vaccinate everyone in this region within in 2- 3 months. Such great leadership! My offering for tonight. A little bit of nostalgia. On March 8, 2020, I was returning home from a week spent in Florida with a dear friend. An annual trip for the last seven years, this 2020 trip was different. I spent so much of my time preoccupied with COVID-19. I kept trying to convince Canadians who were spending the winter in Florida to make their way home. I remember sitting on the beach with one couple who were worried about whether or not they would make it to visit their son in Italy….in April. They didn’t make the trip. I was sitting at the gate waiting for my flight home. I waited for hours and watched hundreds of people come and go. I was wearing a mask. A few other folks were wearing masks too. I felt like bit of an idiot sitting there. I remember sneezing. People around me got up and moved further away. A simple ordinary sneeze, an unusual and extraordinary reaction and I knew, at that moment that the world was no longer ‘normal’. Do you remember how crushing COVID 19 was on Italy? Do you remember watching images of elderly people hooked up to ventilators on their bellies? Do you remember images of patrons locked in their cabins on the Diamond Princess and watching the daily totals of new cases in China? Terrifying. I remember feeling this huge rush of panic when the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11/20. That was almost a year ago, unbelievably enough. And here we sit, at the tail end of a second wave, fearful of a third wave as we approach that distinguished anniversary. It was a year of loss. We have lost so many of the freedoms we took for granted like heading into a grocery store with no fear, like sending our kids off to school without a second thought, like heading off to work and sharing lunch with our work colleagues, like eating in a restaurant, like travelling to Florida in 2021 or any other lost trip to somewhere else in the world. A year of suffering, loss, confusion and fear. But this next year, everything will change. We are about to be part of the massive roll out of COVID 19 vaccines. I know that people are divided on the issue of vaccines: those that are comfortable getting a vaccine, those that are vaccine hesitant and those that are against vaccines. Vaccines are the final and necessary tool needed for us to conquer COVID 19. Without them, the pandemic could linger for years, killing hundreds of millions of people and leaving economies in collapse. Science was ready for COVID 19. As an HIV physician treating HIV positive people since 1990, I have watched what science and technology is capable of. We have taken AIDS, a universally deadly disease, also caused by a virus, to a now chronic and manageable disease using powerful medications. I helped young people die throughout the nineties. Now I prescribe one pill once a day and these patients literally move on to live a normal life expectancy. Oh, that I could have handed these same medications to the dozens of patients who died under my care. As many in the world joined forces to end the AIDS pandemic, science developed new technologies and treatments never used before. For three decades, the scientific community has been developing messenger RNA technology. The time for these vaccines has come. Probably the most effective and safe vaccines ever created, the research and intelligence behind them has been decades in the making. With the world now throwing it’s intellectual and financial might at COVID-19, moving these vaccines through trials that started last February, before the pandemic was declared, was not rushed, it was resourced. We have been waiting for the opportunity to use this miraculous technology. Have no fear. These vaccines will get us back to a normal life. They are safe and we are ready to receive millions of them. We are ready. Join me as I roll up my sleeve! Anne-Marie Please share! For non-Facebook users, you can find this post here: https://braceletofhope.blogspot.com/ And if you'd like to help Bracelet of Hope work towards making sure that Lesotho has access to these vaccines, donate here: https://www.braceletofhope.ca/ways-to-

 Busy weekend.

This is a video that reviews the proper use of masks and answers some of your vaccine questions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70AC7YWcpkw&t=4s

The variants are here. The number of new daily cases in the province of Ontario is on the rise. The best thing that you can to to protect yourself, while we patiently wait for a vaccine, is wear a mask. Stay six feet apart....that's way up there too. Stay is small bubbles at home. Do not gather unless it is permitted under the provincial colour coded system in your area and if you can gather, stay six feet apart and wear a good quality mask. In this video I review how to use a mask and answer some of your vaccine questions. More to come. Enjoy this beautiful February day. Anne-Marie Please share. If you are eligible to register for a vaccine appointment in the Guelph-Wellington-Dufferin Public Health Unit or to find out if you are eligible go to this link: https://register.wdgpublichealth.ca For non-Facebook users, you can find this post here: https://braceletofhope.blogspot.com/ And if you'd like to help Bracelet of Hope work towards making sure that Lesotho has access to these vaccines, donate here: https://www.braceletofhope.ca/ways-to-

TAKE THAT COVID!!!

As of today in the Wellington-Dufferin-Public Health Unit: 92% of residents in LTC and Retirement Homes have had one dose of a COVID 19 vaccine and 67% have had two doses, ensuring our most vulnerable have some protection from the virus. As of February 16, WDG Public Health has administered over 10,000 doses and has SURPASSED THE PROVINCIAL AND NATIONAL VACCINATION RATES. BHAM! Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health is inviting members of certain prioritized groups to pre-register for upcoming COVID-19 vaccination appointments. Demand for the COVID-19 vaccine is currently higher than available supply and a prioritization is necessary to determine eligibility. COVID-19 vaccine appointments are not yet available for the general public. But these groups can now register: Adults 80 years of age and older Indigenous adults Long-Term Care and/or Retirement Home Staff Essential Support Staff in Long-Term Care and Retirement Homes Essential Caregivers in Long-Term Care and High-Risk Retirement Homes Healthcare workers* in the following settings: Hospitals COVID-19 Response Roles (e.g., Assessment Centres, outbreak response, COVID-19 immunization clinics) Paramedics Community Healthcare workers serving specialized populations Community Healthcare workers serving the general population Healthcare worker in Congregate Settings Healthcare services for indigenous populations Laboratory services Non-acute and rehabilitation and therapy Public health *For the purposes of this vaccine prioritization, ‘health care worker’ is defined as: Anyone working or volunteering in a health care organization (includes regulated health professionals as well as staff not providing direct patient care such as cleaning, food or administration services) Any worker providing healthcare services or direct patient service in a setting outside of a health care organization (http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/programs/publichealth/coronavirus/docs/Guidance_for_Prioritizing_HCW_covid19_vaccination_2020-01-08.pdf) Here is the Pre-Registration Website link - https://register.wdgpublichealth.ca For individuals who do not have computer or internet capacity you will receive a phone call with information as to how to register. And, in this public health unit, we have built the capacity to immunize 11,800 people a day though the following sites: WDG Public Health - Chancellor's Way PH office ( Guelph ) - Alder St. Recreation Centre ( Orangeville) - Centre Wellington Community Sportsplex ( Fergus ) Mobile Clinics - Serving rural communities and vulnerable populations Partner-Led Mass Immunization Clinics -University of Guelph/Guelph Family Health Team ( Guelph) Team Lead, Dr. Joan Chan. Thank you Joan! -Linimar ( Skyjack), 201 Woodlawn Rd. Guelph. Thank you Linda Hasenfratz and team! The light at the end of the tunnel is now a halogen head lamp! We could all be immunized by the summer. Stay tuned. More information to follow. Do not be anxious, your turn will come. Sit back and enjoy as we watch so many more people in our communities get vaccinated. Our turn will come! We are a month ahead of schedule. Amazing, Outstanding, Unprecedented Community Effort. Take that again, COVID. Anne-Marie Please share! I will update you this weekend on more information about the vaccines, the variants and the right mask.

For non-Facebook users, you can find this post here:

https://braceletofhope.blogspot.com/

And if you'd like to help Bracelet of Hope work towards making sure that Lesotho has access to these vaccines, donate here:

https://www.braceletofhope.ca/ways-to-

YIKES

Yesterday was the calm before the storm. In more ways than one.

COVID variants are popping up in many locations and today we return to the provincial colour coded system.

Some in the health care system are bracing for a third wave. That terrifies me. We are all exhausted already. Some say the third wave could come on quickly and be the worst one yet. That's not fear mongering; these predictions are based on good science and what we now know about the transmissibility of these variants. They spread quickly and are likely more dangerous.

So, today, the basic rules do not change. You do not head out into a snowstorm without good clothing and equipment: Hat, gloves, heavy coat, solid boots, snow tires, a shovel, windshield wiper fluid.

Please, do not head out this week in your newly colour coded region with lifted restrictions without a very, very good three layer cloth mask or two- two layered masks that fit snug to the face covering the nose completely and stretching from ear to ear.

In that grocery store, retail store or restaurant stay six feet apart and leave the mask on in between bites at your table. Not enough is known about these variants to be certain they do not travel in the air from table to table.

AND most of all, do not gather inside without adhering to restrictions. Our health unit is in the red which means five can gather inside. That includes your bubble. My husband and I could potentially have all three of our kids for dinner next weekend. WE total five so no one else but them. But, we must stay six feet apart, wear masks and I am sorry kids but we are all eating in separate rooms.

These new variants will whip through an indoor gathering where restrictions are not being adhered to. Fifty to seventy percent more transmissible. NO one in a room with an infected person stands a chance. Sadly, this is where we are.

But not for long. Prepare yourselves for the COVID-19 vaccines. They are coming. The CEO of Pfizer and Moderna are now ready to deliver the vaccines they promised in the first quarter of this year, with 1.5 million more doses more than we expected and by April, millions of vaccines. I will keep you well informed as we roll out the plan of who gets vaccinated and where. No worries about that. Six weeks. We are out of this dark, cold and lonely winter in under six weeks and the world will look very different when we see our friends and families getting that vaccine.

Cheers on the blustery, February day!

Anne-Marie

Please share.

Is it the right time to open up?

I think there are two answers to that question; yes and no.

Yes because small businesses need to survive. The economy is struggling. Yes because kids and teachers need to be back in school. Yes because the mental health of so many of us is being threatened by this long lock down.

No, because despite having under 1000 new cases in Ontario two days ago, the numbers seem to be climbing again. No, because this new increase, if it persists, may be driven by new variants whose ability to transmit we do not know enough about except that it is much more transmissible. No because to risk opening up now may cause a third wave that could be much more devastating than the second.

Take a look at this lovely graph. Click here: https://www.covid-19canada.com/ and scroll down to the big yellow rectangle that says, 'Click her for provincial graphs'. Click and then scroll down to Ontario and the graph called, 'New cases analysis by date'.

Look at that beautiful, steep decline in the seven day rolling average. Just look at that. Here it is in numbers.

Jan. 10 3945

Jan. 11 3555

Jan. 12 3523

Jan. 13 3480

Jan. 14 3452

Jan. 15 3273.

Jan. 18 3035

Jan. 22 2703

Jan. 23 2359

Jan. 26 2346

Feb. 3 1888

And today......1179

WE DID THAT! That's a drop of over 2,700 in just over a month. Would you look at that. Such power in these public health measures and our ability to stick to them. Such power in wearing masks in public, limiting our social contacts to the extreme and staying six feet apart. Remember, the worse prediction for this province had we not locked down took us to 10,000 new cases a day. We avoided that and then some. So proud of my fellow citizens. What a great team.

But here's the problem. The measures are extreme and not sustainable. Could we do it for 8 more weeks when vaccines will arrive by the millions? As a physician, I believe we can and that is what I'd like to see but I am not a politician. They need to take into account the millions of people who are losing or have lost their livelihoods. What a difficult balancing act they are striving for.

I believe there is an answer. And we already know that answer. This week when public health regions will be given the option to open up according to the provincial colour coded system, ( the Guelph-Wellington-Dufferin Unit has done so well that we may be put into orange or red level), there are two things we must still do with greater vigilance than ever before: Stay six feet apart and wear a good quality mask. If more people are allowed to gather in your home, imagine a very transmissible virus joining that group in your home. If it is there, everyone in that gathering will likely become ill unless you are staying six feet apart and wearing a mask. Sitting around a dinner table is very dangerous with these variants. We take the masks off to eat. Do that with your loved ones sitting far apart and minimize the time when masks need to be off.

We have decided to continue to lay low until the vaccines arrive. That's our choice and it's a difficult one. My husband and I are meticulous about managing our mental health. To bed early, exercising every day at least 30 min, eating very healthy foods ( I hate vegetables), and attending zoom calls on the weekends with friends and family to keep up our 'outside the home' social interactions. But we have it easy. We do not live in a small apartment with three school-aged children and a couple of in-laws. We have it easy.

This virus has ripped open the cracks of inequality and vulnerability in our society; our just and democratic society where so many vulnerable, racialized and marginalized populations are at much greater risk of becoming ill with COVID-19. Oh, that when this is over we focus on these inequalities and make them right. The dream I have held onto throughout my professional life.

Vaccines are the answer. By June, most of us will have been offered a vaccine and all of us by September. This is not a pipe dream. This is totally possible. I am not the kind of person to say, 'I told you so', but in July, I just might whisper that under my breath and rejoice at the same time.

We CRUSHED the first wave. We CRUSHED the second wave. Is there anything we can't do as a population committed to ending this thing? I don't think so.

I have asked my colleagues at Hinds in Hands in Rockwood to create a three layer mask with the middle polypropylene layer sewn in. I will model the template in a video next week. If you know of another source for these masks, purchase them and than purchase a few for the less fortunate. They are the answer until 70 % of us are vaccinated and immune.

Anne-Marie

Please share.

Guelph Community Foundation has published a series of Vital Briefs that focus on Secondary Pandemic Effects on our health.

The link to the report is: https://www.guelphcf.ca/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=-kDSQDcIjsA%3d&tabid=100.

Food Insecurity, Alcohol and Substance Abuse, Employment, Families and Children.....great info. Please read!

Click her to learn about 10 C's Connecting Circles for people over 50. So important to reach out and connect with others.

https://10carden.ca/connecting-circles/

For non-Facebook users, you can find this post here:

https://braceletofhope.blogspot.com/

And if you'd like to help Bracelet of Hope work towards making sure that Lesotho has access to these vaccines, donate here:

https://www.braceletofhope.ca/ways-to-

Well, how confused are you now?

Let's simplify. Most of the province stays in lock down with the present emergency orders now being extended to Feb. 16th. That means, for most of us, nothing changes.... for now. In the coming weeks, the province will progressively move more regions back into the colour-coded system, which includes the green, yellow, orange, red and grey "lockdown" stages. In these health units, Hastings Prince Edward Public Health Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Public Health Renfrew County and District Health Unit, the stay at home orders will be lifted on Feb 9th and they are moving right to green, the least restrictive category in the colour-coded provincial system. Good for them. That means there is hope for us. After the 16th, all areas except Toronto, Peel and York will go back to the colour-coded system with categories in each area determined by several metrics: The number of cases/100,000 The percent positivity The R value For example, if the numbers in the Guelph-Wellington-Dufferin public health unit continue to decline this week ( only 22 new cases today) we could move to the Orange ( Restrict ) category which requires: A Weekly incidence rate is 25 to 39.9 per 100,000 (we are presently at 45 cases/100,000) A % positivity is 1.3-2.4% ( we are presently at 3.6 % positivity) It is more likely that we will be moved into the Red category. This is the link to our public health unit's COVID-19 status report where you can follow these numbers if you'd like. https://www.wdgpublichealth.ca/your-health/covid-19-information-public/status-cases-wdg Click here for a nice overview of Ontario's colour coded COVID-19 framework: https://bit.ly/2OjvmVg In Toronto and Peel and York regions the present stay at home order is set to stay in effect until at least Feb. 22. Sorry about his guys. It is confusing. But the details will become more clear in the coming days. Whatever colour category your region ends up in either next week or the week after, we must be careful of these new COVID-19 variants which are much easier to spread. Please, please wear a good quality three layer mask that fits well, middle layer polypropylene, or a level 2 surgical mask. It is much better for the environment to wear a three layer cloth mask than a surgical mask and we should leave as many surgical masks for the healthcare system as possible. That's all for tonight. Tonnes of questions about vaccines, their roll out in this country and their effectiveness against the South African variant and the UK variant. There is no strong evidence yet that the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna will have trouble with these new variants. In Canada, the Johnson and Johnson and the AstraZeneca vaccines are not approved for use by Health Canada but we are expecting one of them to be approved in the coming days. We've got you covered with vaccines. Be prepared for a massive roll out starting in April. Guelph will be in a position to immunize up to 10,000 people a day. Be proud of that folks. I am amazed at the incredible organizations and groups that are stepping up to create mass vaccinations clinics. Your 'job' remains the same; stay at home for another week unless you are in the public health units that are moving to green. Wear a mask. Stay healthy and hopeful and stay tuned. Tomorrow night folks, our next webinar is set to start at 7 pm. Click here to register: https://us02web.zoom.us/.../reg.../WN_XuJ1MXtMSnaM1JV4FJ9hmw These webinars are hosted by Bracelet of Hope. Dr. Nicola Mercer, the medical officer of health for WDG will join us. We will answer as many questions as we can. Helen Fishburn will assist us with how to remain strong, how to build on resilience and where to reach out for help. See you tomorrow night. Anne-Marie Please share.

For non-Facebook users, you can find this post here:

https://braceletofhope.blogspot.com/

OK. BRING IT ON! VACCINES-

1/ The mRNA vaccines that are being distributed in this country and the viral vector vaccines from AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson which have yet to be approved for use in Canada do not have any aborted human fetal tissue in them.

In order to mass produce a vaccine against a virus, the virus needs to be replicated. A virus cannot replicate unless it enters into a host's cells. In order to understand how a virus replicates so that you can create technologies for a vaccine, vaccine makers need living cells in which to grow the virus. Using living humans is obviously not an option ( you would have to infect them with the virus) and using other living animals has it concerns and set backs too. So, vaccine makers often use historical fetal cells that have been grown and maintained in labs from two aborted fetuses from the 1960's and 1970's; abortions that were performed electively and by choice of the mother and not for the purpose of vaccine development.

These two cell lines have been grown and maintained for decades in the lab and have been used to develop vaccines that many of us have already received: Hepatitis A, rubella ( in the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine or MMR) and rabies.

Early development of the mRNA technology which started decades ago used fetal cells from cells lines grown in the lab that started from fetal cells discussed above. Pfizer and Moderna used the technology, not the cells. The mRNA COVID-19 vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna do not require the use of any fetal cell lines or fetal tissue of any kind in order to manufacture their vaccines.

FULL STOP

Cell lines grown in the lab from decades old fetal tissue used to create technology that now makes vaccines is a far cry from the direct use of fetal tissue from recent abortions in these vaccines.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were found to be ethically uncontroversial by the pro-life organization the Charlotte Lozier Institute. Further, Brian Kane, senior director of ethics for the Catholic Health Association of the United States, said this, “In terms of the moral principles of being concerned about the use of any pharmaceuticals that were developed from aborted fetuses, that is certainly an issue that we all want to be cognizant of and try to avoid their use. With that in mind, the Pfizer and

Moderna COVID vaccines that are coming out are not even tainted with that moral problem".

So, you are entitled to have a moral concern about taking a vaccine that used technology that used cells grown in a lab that started with two aborted fetuses that were aborted by choice 50 years ago. But to be morally concerned that the mRNA vaccines contains fetal tissue from new abortions is not based in fact at all.

And please, let's not make this a pro-life, pro-choice discussion. I am talking science, not religion or faith or human rights or gender rights or right-winged opinions vs left-winged opinions. Just the science. You can decide for yourself whether there is a moral issue here but base your decision on the science not false information.

2/ The mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna have polyethylene glycol as one of their ingredients or PEG for short. PEG does not cause cancer. Ethylene oxide and 1,4-dioxane is a known human carcinogen ( can cause cancer in humans). Easy to mix up, right? Easy to use to spread mis-information even if unintentionally.

PEG- polyethylene glycol. This is it's chemical structure:

C2H6O2

It is made up of 2 carbon atoms, 6 hydrogen atoms and 2 oxygen atoms in a really cool configuration held together by things called bonds.

Ethylene Oxide- This is it's chemical structure:

C2H4O

It is made up of 2 carbon atoms, 4 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom. That may not sound like much of a difference and it may not look like much of a difference but from an organic chemistry point of view, a world of difference. Totally, totally different.

PEG does not cause cancer. Ethylene Oxide can.

PEG is an ingredient in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. ETHYLENE OXIDE is not!!

FULL STOP

I think I am ready to take on all of the false information about these vaccines in these posts. If you are hearing information about these vaccines that is causing fear or mistrust, ask your questions in the comments section of these posts or private message me. If I can't reassure you, I will find someone who can.

Anne-Marie

Please share.

Guelph Community Foundation has published a series of Vital Briefs that focus on Secondary Pandemic Effects on our health.

The link to the report is: https://www.guelphcf.ca/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=-kDSQDcIjsA%3d&tabid=100.

Food Insecurity, Alcohol and Substance Abuse, Employment, Families and Children.....great info. Please read!

For non-Facebook users, you can find this post here:

https://braceletofhope.blogspot.com/

And if you'd like to help Bracelet of Hope work towards making sure that Lesotho has access to these vaccines, donate here:

https://www.braceletofhope.ca/ways-to-