Health & Medicine: 1)Dr. Joss Reimer named Canada’s new chief public health officer; 2)hospitalizations rose dramatically last year, new CIHI data shows; 3)Doctors warn against dangers of health misinformation from AI sources

1)Dr. Joss Reimer named Canada’s new chief public health officer

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Sarah Ritchie, Feb. 20, 2026.

Dr. Joss Reimer, a physician from Manitoba, is set to take over as Canada’s new chief public health officer this spring.

The appointment was made public on Friday, roughly eight months after the position became vacant.

Reimer replaces Dr. Theresa Tam, who retired in June after eight years in the role. Tam became a household name during the pandemic as she delivered public updates on COVID-19 caseloads.

Reimer was chief medical officer for the Winnipeg health authority, and before that was the medical lead for Manitoba’s COVID-19 vaccine implementation task force.

She has a master’s degree in public health and has conducted research on sexually transmitted diseases and drug-related harms.

“Public health is about uniting efforts to protect and promote the well-being of people in Canada, especially those who are most vulnerable,” Reimer said in a media statement.

Health Minister Marjorie Michel noted in a statement that Reimer joins the Public Health Agency at a critical time. She said Canada is facing “a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, the threats posed by avian influenza A (H5N1), HIV and tuberculosis, the ongoing impacts of the illegal drug crisis and the harmful impacts of false health information.”

Nancy Hamzawi, the agency’s president, said she looks forward to working with Reimer.

“At a time when strong, science-driven leadership has never been more important, I am confident that her vision and dedication will help advance the public health and well-being of Canadians,” Hamzawi said in a press release.

Reimer is the past president of the Canadian Medical Association and during her tenure delivered a formal apology to Indigenous Peoples for the harms caused by the medical profession.

Dr. Margot Burnell, the Canadian Medical Association’s current president, said Reimer was a source of calm and measured leadership for Manitobans during the pandemic.

At the CMA, Reimer “led the fight against false health information and advocated strongly for solutions to improve access to care for everyone in Canada,” Burnell said.

Reimer is set to begin her three-year term on April 1.

2)hospitalizations rose dramatically last year, new CIHI data shows

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Nicole Ireland, February 19, 2026

The Canadian Institute for Health Information says pneumonia hospitalizations rose by almost one-third across Canada last year.

The data released Thursday shows kids between five and 17 years old were especially hard hit, with pneumonia hospitalizations more than doubling over the previous year.

Dr. Jesse Papenburg, an infectious disease specialist at Montreal Children’s Hospital, says CIHI’s numbers reflect what health-care workers already sensed — that the 2024-2025 respiratory illness season was unusually busy for pneumonia.

Papenburg says last year’s very bad flu season was likely a major driver of the pneumonia surge.

Viral pneumonia can be a serious complication of the flu.

Papenburg says influenza infection can also lead to bacterial pneumonia, because it affects the cells in the respiratory tract and makes it easier for bacteria to get in.

“It’s not uncommon for somebody to say, well, they had this influenza-like illness. They were starting to get better, they were feeling better and then all of a sudden they got much worse and presented with what is a classic case of bacterial pneumonia,” he said.

Another factor likely affecting the rise in pneumonia hospitalizations is last year’s unusual spike in “walking pneumonia” cases, especially among kids, Papenburg said.

People with walking pneumonia, caused by mycoplasma pneumoniae bacteria, generally have milder symptoms — including cough, fever and fatigue — than patients with other types of pneumonia and usually recover on their own.

But even though the proportion of people with severe cases of walking pneumonia remained small, the sheer number of cases led to more patients requiring hospitalization than in other years, Papenburg said.

The CIHI data said pneumonia hospitalizations exceeded pre-pandemic levels across all age groups.

Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Alberta, said that in addition to a nastier flu season and the prevalence of mycoplasma pneumoniae, pneumonia cases could be rising because different strains of bacteria may be circulating that we didn’t develop immunity to during the pandemic.

The CIHI data includes pneumonia hospitalizations between April 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025.

Hospitalizations for children and youth increased by 143 per cent over the previous year — from 2,698 patients to 6,547.

Pneumonia hospitalizations rose by 34 per cent for adults aged 18 to 64 and by 22 per cent for seniors 65 years old and over.

Papenburg said it’s too early to tell whether or not pneumonia hospitalizations are up again this year.

Parents can help protect their children against severe pneumonia by ensuring they are up-to-date on their vaccinations, he said.

A vaccine for the most common bacteria that cause severe pneumonia is part of the routine childhood immunization schedule, Papenburg said.

3)Doctors warn against dangers of health misinformation from AI sources

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Sarah Ritchie, February 10, 2026

The Canadian Medical Association says doctors are worried that more of their patients are turning to artificial intelligence for health advice — and getting answers that put them in danger.

The national group, which represents physicians across the country, says the trend is especially alarming because so many people don’t have access to a primary care provider, and they’re turning to sources that are easily available and quick.

“It’s alarming because a lot of that information is misinformation, disinformation, and false information. And so that really undermines the trust between patients and their physicians,” said Dr. Margot Burnell, the CMA’s president.

In a survey commissioned by the CMA and conducted by Abacus Data, the association asked 5,001 Canadians a series of questions about where they get their health information and which sources they consider reliable.

Nearly all survey respondents reported looking for health information online — most often for information about a particular condition or symptom, or for treatment options.

Sixty-four per cent of survey respondents said they encountered health information online that they later learned was false or misleading — occasionally, often or all the time. Another 29 per cent said that happens rarely.

Only 27 per cent of respondents said they trust AI to provide accurate health information — but about half said they turn to AI search results from Google or platforms like ChatGPT for health information. Around 38 per cent said they used ChatGPT for treatment advice.

Those who followed the advice they got from AI were five times more likely to say they experienced an adverse reaction or negative effect on their health as a result, said the survey.

Burnell said doctors have long experience with patients who do their own research online before coming to an appointment, but AI platforms provide what appears to be definitive health advice without taking into account a clear picture of an individual’s medical history.

“AI information is different because it’s hard to know who’s generated it, it’s hard to ensure where the validity and the science has come from,” she said.

The survey also suggests that the vast majority of people surveyed think social media companies and the government have a responsibility to address the problem of health misinformation.

Canadians are also worried about the quality of health information coming from the United States, the survey suggests. More than three-quarters of respondents said they’re concerned about increasing misinformation from south of the border.

U.S. President Donald Trump and his health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have made false and misleading claims about the efficacy of vaccines, and have falsely claimed that using Tylenol during pregnancy can cause autism.

Burnell said much of the information coming from the Trump administration is not based on science and exposure to misinformation can cause people to doubt other sources of information.

Half of the survey respondents said misinformation has led them to be skeptical of the advice they get from health care providers, and 69 per cent said it’s led them to doubt other online health information.

The Abacus survey was conducted in early November. It cannot be assigned a margin of error because online surveys are not considered truly random samples.

The CMA has a partnership with The Canadian Press that funds health coverage, but the association has no control over editorial content.