Dr. Ali Ghahary | Family Physician

Like any medication that someone might be prescribed, people will no doubt have questions about any potential side effects that may be attributed to them. That is also no different when it comes to the vaccines that are available to help prevent COVID-19. While there are certain risks that have been associated with the vaccines – most notably AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, where there have been reported cases of rare blood clots associated with both – the vaccines are, overall, generally well-tolerated, and health officials worldwide continue to watch for any reports of adverse events associated with these particular vaccines (in addition to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines) and…

On March 11th, 2020, the WHO (World Health Organization) officially declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Below is some insight into how the virus has impacted Canadians, how it has shaped the way we live our lives, how vaccines are now crucial in helping prevent transmission, and what we can take from everything we’ve learned in the last year as we move forward. First Case of COVID-19 in Canada The first case of SARS-CoV-2 was found in a Toronto man who had recently travelled to Wuhan, China – the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak – and was announced by Health Canada on January 25th, 2020. As a result, new screening measures…

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists all over the world have been hard at work studying the virus, how it impacts individuals of all ages, races and genders, and creating vaccines to help prevent infection and transmission. To date, Health Canada has approved the use of the following vaccines: • Pfizer-BioNTech • Moderna • AstraZeneca • Johnson & Johnson   Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Vaccines Both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are what’s known as messenger RNA vaccines (also referred to as mRna.) These particular vaccines work by teaching our tells to create proteins which trigger an immune response. Once that immune response is triggered, your body will then…

In recent months, news of variants of the SARS-CoV-2 have been making waves. A strain of a virus is considered a variant when it has mutations that change its genetic code. Variants of a virus can affect who is most impacted by it, the symptoms that one might experience, how quickly the virus spreads, how deadly it may be, as well as its response to vaccines. Currently, the known variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus include: • B.1.1.7 (first identified in the United Kingdom) • B.1.351 (first identified in South Africa) • P.1 (first identified in Brazil) In British Columbia, we have so far seen a total of 25 cases of…

This week, healthcare workers and residents in long-term care in the United Kingdom were among the first in the world to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Today, Health Canada announced its approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for use in our country, with an expected 249,000 doses of the vaccine to be made available by the end of December, marking the launch of the largest inoculation campaigns in Canada’s history. Right here in British Columbia, it was announced that the initial rollout of the vaccine would begin the week of December 14th, with 4,000 doses being administered to those who work in long-term care followed by other healthcare workers in addition to…

On Thursday, November 19th, British Columbia’s health officials – Dr. Bonnie Henry, Provincial Health Officer, alongside Adrian Dix, Minister of Health – announced new (and extended) orders in effort to curb the COVID-19 pandemic in our province. It was a lot of information to take it at once, nonetheless, so below we break down what some of these orders mean for British Columbians. PROVINCE-WIDE RESTRICTIONS Prior to Thursday’s announcements, many of the restrictions were limited to the Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal Health regions where they were asked to significantly reduce their social interactions as well as travel. However, these restrictions are now Province-wide and will remain in effect until…

When it comes to preventing the spread of viruses like the common cold or flu, we know that there are relatively easy measures to take to try to avoid getting sick – such as staying home when we’re unwell, avoiding contact with those who we know are sick, washing our hands, and so on and so forth. With COVID-19, all of these measures still apply in addition to a few others – but what are all the layers of protection we can take and how, exactly, do they protect us? #1 – KEEPING YOUR DISTANCE What we know about COVID-19 is that it is easily spread from person to person…