Albany Medical Clinic
Albany Medical Clinic is a family medicine clinic located in Toronto, Ontario. Their website advocates on behalf of COVID-19 vaccine policies and products, offering the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna products to their patients.1) On December 19, 2021 they instructed patients to “get boosted” with an additional COVID-19 shot when eligible due to the Omicron variant.
Some questionable, ambiguous, contradictory or outright false claims included on their website include:
- There are no known allergy risks to any components of the vaccine products;2)
- Despite these being the first application of mRNA technology to vaccines, they have been researched for cancer treatment for upwards of 30 years;
- mRNA vaccines cannot give someone COVID-19;
- mRNA vaccines cannot affect or interact with our DNA in any way;
- Very few people got COVID-19 within 12 days of receiving a first Pfizer dose in clinical trial, with Moderna displaying similar results;
- Studies for safety and efficacy of the products in pregnant and breastfeeding women were not done, but the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada recommends giving it to those groups anyway;
- mRNA vaccine products are not expected to be a risk to a breastfeeding infant;
- People who had anaphylaxis to the first dose should not receive the second;
- Studies for safety and efficacy of the products in immunocompromised people and those with autoimmune conditions were not done, but “vaccination may be a good idea for you to reduce your risk of getting a COVID-19 infection.”
For further information, the clinic directs guests to the “COVID-19 Vaccines for Ontario” page on the Province of Ontario website.3) They also cite guidance from Toronto Public Health and Public Health Ontario to stay home, physically distance/stay apart, and wash hands.4) Further, the page links out to a since-removed (but archived) MGH 1000 Masks mask-making project by the Michael Garron Hospital Foundation.5) Another link brings guests to the Toronto East Health Network page for the COVID-19 Assessment Centre at Michael Garron Hospital, where PCR tests are offered.6)
Staff
Zainab Abdurrahman
Zainab Abdurrahman practices medicine at Albany Medical Clinic.7) She is a member of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, sitting on the Drugs & Biologics Clinical Practice Guidelines Working Group.8)
1)
COVID-19 Key Resources. (2021). Albany Medical Clinic. https://www.albanyclinic.ca/covid-19/
2)
Hashimoto, T., Ozaki, A., Bhandari, D., Sawano, T., Sah, R., & Tanimoto, T. (2021). High anaphylaxis rates following vaccination with the Pfizer BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 in Japanese healthcare workers: a secondary analysis of initial post-approval safety data. Journal of Travel Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1093/jtm/taab090
3)
COVID-19 vaccines for Ontario. (2021). COVID-19 (Coronavirus) in Ontario. https://covid-19.ontario.ca/covid-19-vaccines-ontario
4)
COVID-19 Public Resources. (2021, August 3). Public Health Ontario. https://archive.ph/jsFe3
5)
We need 1000 masks every week! (2020, March 29). Michael Garron Hospital Foundation. https://archive.ph/OMg2X
6)
MGH’s COVID-19 Assessment Centre. (2021, December 23). Toronto East Health Network. https://www.tehn.ca/covid19/covid-19-assessment-centre
7)
Specialists. Albany Medical Clinic. Retrieved December 19, 2021, from https://www.albanyclinic.ca/medical-staff/specialists/
8)
About Us. Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table. Retrieved December 19, 2021, from https://covid19-sciencetable.ca/about/#abdurrahman-zainab