New partnership gives Canadians trustworthy evidence, information about the evolving science driving the COVID-19 pandemic

TORONTO, May 11, 2021 /CNW/ – The Lung Health Foundation and Canada’s Global Nexus for Pandemics and Biological Threats have partnered to provide Canadians with evidence-based, timely information on COVID-19 vaccine efficacy, infectious respiratory diseases and other public health measures put in place to manage risk and improve peoples’ health.

Canada’s Global Nexus researchers, based at McMaster University, will provide data and evidence about pandemic topics that will be used by the Lung Health Foundation in customized public education and awareness tools to strengthen Canadians’ understanding of how to protect themselves, their loved ones and their communities.

These public education materials will include accurate layperson summaries and infographics and may evolve into public discussion roundtables, policy briefings and advocacy activities. The two partners will explore topics ranging from vaccine approval and rollout to diagnostic testing capacity and economic and social policies.

“Canadians are bombarded with mass information and misinformation about COVID-19 daily, leaving too many with uncertainty and confusion,” says Peter Glazier, Executive Vice President of the Lung Health Foundation. “Together with Canada’s Global Nexus for Pandemics and Biological Threats, the Lung Health Foundation will provide the clear, consistent and fact-based information Canadians can trust to help stay safe and make informed decisions about vaccines.”

Collaboration is key to success, says Gerry Wright, lead, Canada’s Global Nexus for Pandemics and Biological Threats at McMaster University. Wright is a global expert in antibiotic resistance and scientific director of McMaster’s Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research.

“Partnerships are essential to help us bring an end to this pandemic and prepare for the next,” he says. “Building on our history and track record of success in infectious disease research, Canada’s Global Nexus researchers will bring expertise on vaccines, virus variants, surveillance, and evidence-based decision-making to the table and in collaboration with the Lung Health Foundation’s strengths in building awareness, Canadians will have reliable, trustworthy information they can count on.”

McMaster, one of the world’s Top 70 universities, is ranked as Canada’s most research-intensive university and ranked 11^th in the world for clinical and health programs.

Glazier added: “Today, we’re guiding Canadians through the pandemic with fact-based information they can trust and rely on as we all work toward a return to normalcy and tomorrow, we’re going to be better prepared by ensuring the tragic lessons this pandemic has taught us aren’t lost.”

About the Lung Health Foundation
The Lung Health Foundation is the leading health charity dedicated to improving lung health through a uniquely integrated approach that identifies gaps and fills them through investments in ground-breaking research and urgently needed programs and supports; policy and practice change; and promoting awareness about lung health issues affecting all Canadians.

About Canada’s Global Nexus for Pandemics and Biological Threats, McMaster University
Building on a world-leading track record of infectious disease research, Canada’s Global Nexus at McMaster University brings together a vast, international network of researchers, government, industry, health care and other partners with the goal of finding solutions to the current pandemic, while preparing for future global health threats like antimicrobial resistance. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada’s Global Nexus researchers have received more than $57 million supporting 150 research projects from the federal and provincial governments and industry partners. Visit globalnexus.mcmaster.ca

SOURCE Lung Health Foundation