Immunize Canada and CANVax Webinars
We are collaborating with Immunize Canada to host a series of webinars and webinar shorts on the theme of “Immunizations during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.”
The goal is to inform frontline health professionals on best practices and strategies for safely coordinating and delivering recommended vaccines and to discuss the importance of maintaining immunizations throughout the life course during the pandemic.
The objectives are :
- to understand the importance of maintaining recommended immunizations throughout the life course during a pandemic,
- to identify best practices and strategies for safely coordinating and delivering immunization programs during a pandemic, and
- to describe the impact of immunizations during a pandemic.
Registration
Register for upcoming webinars on this page. See below for the registration link in each session’s description. Webinars are live, recorded, include a moderated Q&A, and are available in English.
Webinar Shorts
Webinar Shorts are 10 to 15 minute, pre-recorded videos addressing specific topics related to the impact of COVID-19 on immunizations. Webinar shorts are readily available on this page and on Immunize Canada’s YouTube page. Registration is not required.
Recordings
Webinar recordings are posted on this page and on Immunize Canada’s YouTube page. You can find past webinar recordings in 2020 here.
Upcoming Webinars
Stay tuned for future webinar dates.
Webinar Shorts
Community Based Immunization Clinics for Grade 7 during the COVID-19 pandemic
By: Adrienne Adas, Health Promoter, Huron Perth Public Health
Huron Perth Public Health is a rural health unit in southwest Ontario. The vaccine preventable disease team was highly motivated to deliver the grade 7 vaccines during the pandemic, so they took on the extra work to coordinate this successful program.
If you have questions for Huron Perth Public Health, please contact immunize@cpha.ca
Past Webinars
Tuesday, November 23, 2021 : 1 PM - 2 PM Eastern Time
Solutions to Increase Youth Human Papillomavirus Immunization in Canada: A National Quality Improvement Project
Dr. Thilina Bandara, Project Lead - Urban Public Health Network
Mika Rathwell, Project Officer - Urban Public Health Network
In this webinar, we will be discussing Solutions to Increase Youth Human Papillomavirus Immunization in Canada, a national quality improvement project funded by the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer. Our presentation will be focused on the project objectives, which include understanding the sub-provincial national HPV immunization data landscape, and provider- and community-reported barriers to HPV immunizations. We will share how we are executing on our objectives and some early results we have gathered from engaging public health organizations across Canada.
Tuesday, October 26, 2021 : 1 PM - 2 PM Eastern Time
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on immunization coverage: Data from a network of practices in Ontario
Dr. Pierre-Philippe Piché-Renaud, MD - Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Toronto
This webinar aims to describe the impact of the pandemic on routine immunization coverage in children in Ontario, using data from a large network of primary care practices. The impact of the pandemic on immunization coverage in Ontario will be compared to reports from other jurisdictions, within Canada and abroad. Future directions and potential solutions will be discussed.
Thursday, September 23, 2021: 1 PM - 2 PM Eastern Time
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on routine immunization programs
Dr. Shannon MacDonald, Associate Professor - University of Alberta & Mr. Yuba Paudel, PhD Candidate - University of Alberta
Studies on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic from other countries have found declines in routine vaccine uptake as a result of reduced health system capacity and changes in immunization practices and attitudes. However, there is limited published data from Canada on this subject. Using population-based administrative data, we examine the impact of the pandemic by comparing routine vaccine coverage before and during the pandemic in Alberta, Canada. Early findings indicate a decline in coverage varied by age and dose with childhood vaccines given at older ages showing a larger drop in 2020 compared to 2019.
Learning objectives:
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Understand the extent to which routine vaccine coverage declined during pandemic compared to pre-pandemic period.
- Understand whether those missed to get vaccinated during early pandemic were caught up later during the pandemic.
Thursday, July 29, 2021 : 1 PM - 2 PM Eastern Time
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on immunization services: Results from a survey of physicians in Ontario.
Dr. Pierre-Philippe Piché-Renaud, MD - Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Toronto
This webinar aims to detail the impact of the pandemic on immunization services in Ontario and to identify the main barriers to routine childhood immunizations secondary to COVID-19. Solutions identified through a province-wide survey of family physicians and pediatricians will be discussed.
Past Webinars in 2020
CANVax hosted these webinars on behalf of our partner, Immunize Canada. This webinar series is solely owned and managed by Immunize Canada and has been made possible by an unrestricted educational grant from Merck Canada and Pfizer Canada. All financial support (including educational grants) is used to cover the development of this webinar series, and Immunize Canada retains control over all aspects of these materials. Please see Immunize Canada’s Ethical Guidelines for Sponsorship at immunize.ca.
Tuesday, October 27, 2020 : 1 PM - 2 PM Eastern Time
"’Tis the Season": Discussing Immunization Care during the Pandemic and Beyond
Dr. Christine Palmay, MD - Family Doctor, Toronto
Immunizations represent a pillar to our as role of health care providers. It is a call to duty to ensure that we continue to provide up to date and timely immunizations in accordance with national and international guidelines. This webinar aims to explore challenges regarding immunization administration during the pandemic and beyond, with discussions regarding influenza season.
Slides Available
Additional Resources (publicly available on OneDrive)
Thursday, September 24, 2020 : 1 PM - 2 PM Eastern Time
Influenza in the time of COVID: Hoping for the best, planning for the worst
Dr. Allison McGeer, MsC, MD, FRCPC - Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto | Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute of the Sinai Health System
This webinar will review influenza activity in the 2019/20 northern hemisphere season in Canada, and the 2020 season in the southern hemisphere, and talk about the implications for the 2020/2021 season, about NACI recommendations for vaccination in the fall of 2020, and about NACI recommended changes to programs to manage influenza vaccination during the pandemic.
Thursday, September 10, 2020 : 1 PM - 2 PM Eastern Time
School immunization in Canada during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Dr. Shannon MacDonald, PhD RN - University of Alberta
The declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent closure of schools across Canada resulted in disruption to delivery of school immunization programs. This interactive webinar will address the following critical questions:
- What has been the impact of the pandemic on school vaccine delivery and uptake?
- What is being done to complete interrupted vaccine schedules?
- What are the plans to deliver school immunization programs in the coming school year?
This webinar will present an overview of the impact of the pandemic and the response in the various provinces and territories, followed by an open forum for participants to discuss current challenges facing school immunization programs and share ideas on how to overcome them.
Thursday, July 16, 2020: 1 PM - 2 PM Eastern Time
Maintaining Immunizations during COVID-19 Pandemic – Why and How
Dr. Angel Chu MD, FRCPC - University of Calgary, STI Clinic Calgary, Immunize Canada
Frontline health professionals will be informed on best practices and strategies for safely coordinating and delivering vaccines and to discuss the importance of maintaining immunizations during the pandemic.