▶️▶️ Higher risk patients today see a combination of more transmissible COVID variants, and vaccines that may have waning effectiveness. But when we think of high-risk patients and clinically vulnerable patients, we often think about the IC patient population. How about if you’re obesity or have diabetes, heart failure, high cholesterol, hypertension, or COPD? How about those with specific cognitive or physical disabilities? What is high risk beyond the immunocompromised patient population? We're joined by two Infectious disease experts who deliver a real-time masterclass on assessing COVID risk in your patients and connect the emerging data around the 1st and 2nd COVID-19 vaccine boosters. 📰 📺 The famous Ask the Expert questions in this episode explore specific risk factors beyond age and how to effectively translate and frame the booster conversation on the frontline with your patient. How do you screen and communicate on the frontline? And how do we look at NACI guidance on boosters when compared to JCVI's recommendations for the Fall? Dr.Chagla and Dr.Murthy also compete to see who can number crunch a risk assessment in real time the fastest. EPISODE LEARNING OBJECTIVES: o Explore the current understanding and definition of high-risk patient populations and how to stratify risk in the context of progression to severe COVID-19 disease based on comorbidities o Demonstrate how frontline healthcare providers can effectively screen patients with comorbidities for COVID-19 booster doses o Describe how to effectively frame communication of COVID-19 booster vaccines in the context of real-world patient clinical questions
Dr.Zain Chagla, MD MSc MD, FRCPC is an associate professor at McMaster University, co-medical director of infection control at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton and a consultant in infection control at Woodstock General Hospital. Dr. Chagla is also a teacher at McMaster University where he won a clinician teaching award in internal medicine and a young investigator grant for his work in supporting undergraduate medical education at the University of Namibia.
Dr. Chagla also has a Master of Science in infectious diseases and a diploma in tropical medicine and hygiene from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
As an infectious disease specialist, Dr.Zain Chagla has given media interviews on the COVID-19 pandemic and published several op-eds on testing, disease elimination, and public health interventions. He has contributed to local, provincial, and federal policy planning, and to several clinical trials on COVID-19 therapies. He has published works on COVID-19 research, epidemiology, testing, and infection control.
Dr. Srinivas Murthy MD MASc FRCPC is the Health Research Foundation of Innovative Medicines Canada Chair in Pandemic Preparedness Research, and co-chair of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) clinical research committee on COVID-19. He is an associate professor in the Faculty of Medicine at University of British Columbia, as well as a critical care and infectious diseases physician at B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver. Murthy’s research focuses on infectious disease, clinical practice and clinical trials, and global health. He has also worked on the frontlines for a number of infectious disease outbreaks, including work on Ebola in Liberia, West Africa.
NEJM: Protection by a Fourth Dose of BNT162b2 against Omicron in Israel
JCVI interim statement on COVID-19 autumn 2022 vaccination programme