FOREWORDS

Happy New Year! As we move into the 22nd month of the pandemic, we continue to hear misinformation floating online and offline about COVID.  This month we profile 4 websites dedicated to the fact checking/recording of various COVID medical and social claims. The COVID19Misinfo website has a social media scan portal that you may find interesting.

Separately, the US CDC recently published a study demonstrating the effectiveness of vaccination against hospitalization and death. Would this help convince the population to get their booster shot (or in Israel’s case, their 4th shot)?

Finally, we noted criminal laws in the New Zealand were amended to allow for legal drug checking. It appears there is already early success in preventing unintended substances from being ingested at music festival. Interestingly, The University of Victoria on Vancouver Island, BC also launched its drug checking service (albeit by mail). Could the drug checking service in Canada be expanded as a result of these new services?