Wednesday, March 24th 2021

As our senior citizens are booking and lining up to get their vaccinations, many grandparents can’t wait until they hug their grandchildren sometime soon. While vaccine priority is aimed at our most vulnerable, questions remain about when young children and teenagers will eventually get inoculated against COVID-19. While they are at lower risk, there needs to be more clinical trials to determine proper dosage for younger people and efficacy. Dr. Karina Top joins us to explain where this is at and what parents should keep in mind as they wait until vaccines are ready for the next generation. Guest: Dr. Karina Top, a pediatrician and vaccine researcher at Canadian Centre for Vaccinology

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Tuesday, March 23rd 2021

AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer have become the new buzz words of our generation and may be the top contenders for conversation at awkward family dinners. COVID-19 vaccines might be saving us but they are also breaking down friendships and families as difficult, polarizing conversations crop up around the efficacy or safety of these vaccines. On today’s episode, we get a crash course on vaccine hesitancy and how to talk to those we love about the “V-word.”
Guest: Maya Goldenberg, associate professor of philosophy at the University of Guelph and author of the book “Vaccine Hesitancy: Public Trust, Expertise, and the War on Science.” 

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Monday, March 22nd 2021

Millions of Canadians want to know — of the four COVID-19 vaccines approved by Health Canada — which one is the best one? Numbers and statistics are flying around and it’s fair to have a lot of other questions. Are the Moderna and Pfizer shots really the ‘Cadillac’ of vaccines? Is the AstraZeneca shot effective? Does it matter which vaccine you get? We explain what vaccine efficacy really means and why comparing them is like comparing “apples to oranges”, the real differences between the ‘jabs’ and why out of all the numbers, 100% is the big one to focus on. Guest: Dr. Sumon Chakrabarti, infectious disease doctor, Trillium Health Partners

Produced by Adrian Cheung, Morgan Bocknek, Sean Pattendon

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Friday, March 19th 2021

Guest: Alex Boyd, Star Reporter based in Calgary, who has been focusing on vaccines.

As more and more vaccines get into arms in Canada, the thorny issues of how to denote people’s vaccination status has become a topic of discussion. There are already several countries using some form of vaccine passport to enable easier travel. However, they are leading to another set of issues including questions of privacy, equality and if a passport would be a false sense of security when we don’t know for sure that a vaccine stops transmission. There are also several practical issues as to how they might work. Will they be something we see in Canada? Are they what the world needs to jump-start economies and restart travel and tourism? We discuss how they are being used so far and what worries experts and bioethicists if they become commonplace around the world.

Thursday, March 18th 2021

Guest: Wendy Gillis, Toronto Star’s crime reporter

In Ontario, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) investigates cases of assault, serious injury and death, when a police officer is involved in the incident. A new research report looking into 15 years worth of SIU charges and their outcomes found a majority of cases ended in a withdrawal of charges or acquittal. We look deeper into the numbers to understand how cases play out in the courts and whether rules are different for police officers in the criminal justice system.

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