Manitoba Association for Medical Laboratory Science

The significant impact on overall mortality that COVID-19 had during the first wave in Canada is made very obvious in this graph. I have seen people try to sugg...est that overall mortality wasn't affected by posting graphs on ridiculous scales, but the weekly mortality data says it all. This doesn't even include October and November where we saw significant resurgence in all provinces. While not all of the mortality here is necessarily COVID-19, this is a real measure of the overall impact this pandemic has on mortality. See more

Two more common vaccine questions aswered: 1. If I have had COVID-19, should I still get the vaccine? In short, yes. We do not know yet how good the immune resp...onse is to the virus. Most people seem to produce a good immune response, but some, especially those with mild illness, produce a weaker immune response. We also don't know how long the immune response lasts. Further complicating this, some people don't seem to make the right antibodies to neutralize the virus after getting infected (antibodies to the spike protein). So until we know more about how immunity to SARS-CoV-2 behaves, it's best to get the vaccine to ensure there's a good chance you produce the antibodies you need. If you have been infected, the vaccine may even produce a "booster" response for your immunity to the virus. So, until we have a better idea of how immunity for this virus works, the advice will likely be that everyone should get vaccinated, even if they know they have been infected. Stay tuned! 2. Will the vaccine prevent COVID-19 completely or just reduce the risk of getting it? No vaccine will prevent all infections. Some of our most effective vaccines like measles vaccine prevent about 95% of infections in those who have both doses given. Some like the flu vaccine will reduce the risk by 50-70% (sometimes a lot lower in mismatched year). The two mRNA vaccines that will shortly be released (Pfizer and Moderna) appear to reduce the risk by ~95%, in line with some of our most effective vaccines. Because no vaccine is 100% effective, they work best if as many people as possible are vaccinated to create herd immunity - a situation where so many people are immune to the disease that a virus cannot establish a transmission chain. For COVID-19, at least 60% of people need to be immune for the transmission chain to be interrupted, and it may be higher - upwards of 70%.

Hearing triple-digit case numbers for Manitoba over the past 2 weeks might seem frightening, and there's no doubt that it is. But having a careful look at the d...aily cases also reveals that the data is showing signs that our efforts are paying off. The stable case numbers show a flattening of the epidemic curve, whereas the models that we use to predict case numbers suggest that if we had done nothing we'd be seeing over 1000 cases day. If we keep it up, it won't be long now before we start to see falling numbers. The healthcare system still can't manage 300+ cases a day, and we can expect numbers in hospital to increase for a few more days BUT there is light st the end of the tunnel. Please keep it up and #stayhome See more

Dear Members, MAMLS Annual General Meeting is currently scheduled for Saturday, November 14, 2020. Due to low registration numbers, and the ongoing Covid restrictions, the MAMLS Board has decided to postpone the AGM this year. This will allow us to provide a secure, virtual AGM to the members and ensure a full quorum.... We will postpone to a later date, and will inform members once the date has been confirmed. This will be an online forum only. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. Please feel free to forward any questions or concerns.