CANVax Webinars
Our webinar series explores current and emerging topics in immunization from vaccine safety to strategies and initiatives to improve vaccine acceptance and uptake.
This series is primarily intended for public health professionals working in various levels of immunization, including the planning, development, implementation and promotion of immunization programs.
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.
Recordings
Webinar recordings are posted on this page and on CPHA’s YouTube page.
Upcoming Webinars
Stay tune for future webinar dates
Past Webinars
Thursday, February 11, 2021: 1 PM - 2 PM Eastern Time
Midwives and Vaccinations: Delivering Informed Choice Discussions
Jasmine Chatelain & Fallon Cooper - Canadian Association of Midwives (CAM)
Registered and Indigenous Midwives in Canada are primary care providers for pregnancy, birth, (approximately 6-8 weeks postpartum) and newborns integrated in the Canadian health care system. While midwifery training and competencies are parallel to those for physicians, the Canadian midwifery model focuses on the continuity of the carer, informed choice, choice of birthplace, and evidenced-based practice while seeking to protect normal pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, and newborns. Current midwifery education, scope of practice and practice norms regarding immunization vary widely across the country. The Canadian Association of Midwives (CAM) and the National Aboriginal Council of Midwives (NACM) recently assessed current midwifery practice, and the perspectives and informational needs of midwifery clients around immunization.
This presentation will describe the challenges and opportunities about what discussing vaccination through a midwifery informed choice lens presents and the role of midwives in immunization decision-making and service delivery. In addition, it will share some of CAM/NACM’s assessment findings and the informational materials produced in response.
Tuesday, June 23, 2020: 1 PM - 2 PM Eastern Time
Immunization in special populations: Are you really “up to date”?
Dr. Anne Pham-Huy - University of Ottawa, CHEO and Immunize Canada
Vaccine preventable infections continue to cause diseases across the world. Various special populations are at increased risk of complications from these vaccine-preventable diseases. There are vaccination strategies and programs that are in place for these groups. However, many people who are considered immunocompromised or more susceptible to disease remain undervaccinated.
Health care providers caring for these patients may ask themselves:
- Which vaccines are recommended specifically for my patient?
- How should I vaccinate my patients?
- When should I be vaccinating these patients?
- Who should be vaccinating these patients?
- How can I find resources or guidance to help me optimize immunization?
After this session, attendees will be able to:
- Describe general principles of immunization in immunocompromised or high-risk patients
- Distinguish between low-level and high-level immunosuppression.
- Understand how to optimize vaccination in special populations and/or immunocompromised patients
Tuesday, May 19, 2020: 1 PM - 2 PM Eastern Time
Introducing the CARD™ system: Playing your best hand to improve vaccine delivery at school
Dr. Anna Taddio, PhD - University of Toronto
This presentation will review:
- The rationale for trying to optimize the vaccination delivery process at school
- A new vaccination delivery framework (the CARD™ system) that integrates evidence-based strategies to reduce student pain, fear and fainting during school vaccinations
- Factors that can affect implementation success.
Thursday, April 23, 2020: 1 PM - 2 PM Eastern Time
Vaccinating Pregnant Women: Knowledge, Beliefs, Attitudes and Practices of Women’s Healthcare Providers
Dr. Courtney R. Green, PhD, MSc - Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC)
Vaccination during pregnancy offers a safe option that improves outcomes for mothers and babies. By understanding the factors that influence practices of women’s healthcare providers, improvements to antenatal care can be recommended. These changes can have a long-term impact on maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality related to vaccine-preventable illnesses.
Thursday, February 20, 2020: 1 PM - 2 PM Eastern Time
Increasing immunization coverage by strengthening the decision-making process of parents through motivational interviewing intervention in maternity wards: The EMMIE program
Dr. Arnaud Gagneur - University of Sherbrooke, CHUS Research Centre
To date, many parents are concerned about accepting vaccines for their children and trying to convince them by simply providing the facts may backfire and make them even more hesitant. In this context how can health care workers overcome the challenge of meeting parental decision-making needs regarding vaccination of their children?
The PromoVac strategy consists of an immunization education session given to parents in maternity wards using motivational interviewing techniques. The MI-approach aims to give information to parents, according to their specific needs and their individual level of knowledge with respectful acceptance of their own beliefs. The Promovac strategy has proven its effectiveness in Canada through numerous studies including multicenter randomized controlled trials and it is also effective as a new practice of care in maternity wards across the Province of Quebec through a governmental program (EMMIE program) since 2018.
This webinar will present the main results of the PromoVac studies and the evaluation of the implementation of this strategy as a new public health program in Quebec.
Tuesday, February 11, 2020: 1 PM - 2 PM Eastern Time
Managing patients with adverse events following immunization
Dr. Karina Top, MD, MS, FRCPC - Dalhousie University, Canadian Center for Vaccinology
Patients or clients with adverse events following immunization (AEFIs) may be encountered in clinical and public health practice, and providers may be uncertain as to the best approach to their management. This webinar will discuss common and complex scenarios of AEFIs, discuss approaches to management, and describe resources available to clinicians and public health units through the Special Immunization Clinic Network.
Anaphylaxis versus Immunization Stress-Related Response Slide
Tuesday, January 14, 2020: 1 PM - 2 PM Eastern Time
Intensive Mothering and Vaccine Hesitancy in the Web 2.0 Era
Maryline Vivion, PhD - Quebec National Institute of Public Health (INSPQ)
In Canada, vaccination is not mandatory, and it is estimated that nearly one-third of parents are vaccine-hesitant. Vaccine-hesitant parents may choose to refuse vaccines for their children, to delay vaccination, or to follow the recommendations of health authorities despite significant fears and concerns. Some authors attributed vaccine hesitancy to the proliferation of negative information about vaccines on the Internet. Other studies indicated that vaccine-hesitant parents adhere to a specific parental approach, such as intensive mothering. In North America, many normative views co-exist, most of them put children’s needs as the priority. In this context, it is important to understand how the Internet participates in shaping maternity knowledge and the role of the Internet regarding health decision for their child’s vaccination.
This presentation is based on the findings of an online ethnography conducted in 2015. Non-participant and participant observations on three online social media groups for mothers, 19 individual interviews with mothers, and media monitoring on the topic of vaccines were conducted.
The results highlight different types of vaccine hesitancy and the informational context of mothers and the tensions between health authority norms (such as the vaccine norm) and healthism ideology norms (such as questioning expert knowledge).
Thursday, November 14, 2019: 1 PM - 2 PM Eastern Time
Vaccine-Injury Compensation: A Complex Conversation
Sandani Hapuhennedige, BSc., BA., MPH (on behalf of Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit)
In Canada, only the province of Quebec has a vaccine-injury compensation program. This CANVax webinar will provide participants with an overview of the dialogue on vaccine-injury compensation (VIC), the rationale for these policies, and how they function. The speaker will further describe the context and current status of VIC policies/programs in Canada, based on specific recent events, reviews of the literature, and other related conversations via social media and advocacy groups. The session will conclude with a conversation on gaps in knowledge and important next steps for Canada’s immunization strategies and planning.
Thursday, October 10, 2019: 12 PM - 1 PM Eastern Time
Living better longer: The importance of influenza vaccine
Dr. Shelly McNeil - Canadian Center for Vaccinology, Dalhousie University
“Living better longer: The importance of influenza vaccine” explores the data supporting the use of influenza vaccines in older adults, with a focus on special considerations for this population. This webinar reviews the burden of influenza in older Canadian adults, discusses the importance of understanding the relationship between frailty and influenza, reviews the Canadian data supporting the effectiveness of standard-dose TIV for the prevention of serious outcomes in older adults, and reviews data supporting the use of high-dose influenza vaccine in older adults.
Last Reviewed: September 9, 2021