The United States must stick to a two-dose strategy for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, top U.S. infectious disease official Dr. Anthony Fauci told the Washington Post.
Fauci said delaying a second dose to inoculate more Americans creates risks. COVID-19 has claimed more than half a million lives in the United States, and states are clamouring for more doses to stem cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
Fauci’s remarks come as different jurisdictions — including several Canadian provinces — consider extending the interval between the two doses.
The U.S. expert warned that shifting to a single-dose strategy for the vaccines could leave people less protected, enable variants to spread and possibly boost skepticism among Americans already hesitant to get the shots.
He said that he spoke with U.K. health officials on Monday. Health officials there have decided to offer people their second dose of its approved COVID-19 vaccines 12 weeks after they receive their first jab.
“We agreed that there is a risk of making things worse by doing that — balanced against the risk of not getting as many people vaccinated as quickly as you can,” Fauci told the Post.
He said the science does not support delaying a second dose for those vaccines, citing research that a two-shot regimen creates enough protection to help fend off variants of the coronavirus that are more transmissible, whereas a single shot could leave Americans at risk from variants such as the one first detected in South Africa.
“You don’t know how durable that protection is,” he said.
Fauci has encouraged Americans to accept any of the three available COVID-19 vaccines, including the newly approved Johnson & Johnson shot.
The U.S. government authorized Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine on Saturday, making it the third to be available in the country following the ones from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna that require two doses.
Health Canada has not yet approved the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine but did recently approve the two-dose product from AstraZeneca and Oxford University, bringing the number of vaccines approved for use in Canada to three.
B.C. to delay 2nd dose
Fauci’s comments to the Post about the two-dose regime were reported the same day as an announcement from British Columbia’s provincial health officer about a change in dose timing.
Dr. Bonnie Henry said British Columbia will extend the time between the first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccines to four months as it ramps up its age-based immunization plan to free up doses so all residents could get their initial shot by July.
Henry said Monday the change is based on the “miraculous” protection of at least 90 per cent from the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. She said the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) is expected to issue a statement to align with B.C.’s decision, which is also based on similar data from Quebec and countries including Israel and the United Kingdom.
“The important thing that we have learned is that these vaccines work, they give a very high level of protection, and that protection lasts for many months,” Henry said on Monday. “Extending this second dose provides very high, real-world protection to more people, sooner.”
Ontario, meanwhile, is asking the federal government if it can extend the interval between the first and second dose of its COVID-19 vaccines to four months.
Health Minister Christine Elliott and Solicitor General Sylvia Jones made the request Monday in a joint statement. They said there is growing evidence to suggest that the intervals between the Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines can be safely extended.
Prince Edward Island is also looking at delaying the second dose of the vaccine, Premier Dennis King said.
Dr. Heather Morrison, P.E.I’s chief public health officer, said at a briefing on Tuesday that the province plans to offer every Islander over the age of 16 a single dose of vaccine by the end of June.
Morrison said this approach would allow the province to achieve herd immunity more quickly and protect more residents from COVID-19.
“If all adults are vaccinated with one dose by July 1st, we will have a better summer than last year,” she said.
WATCH | Canada’s chief science adviser talks about B.C.’s plan:
In response to B.C. extending the gap between first and second doses, Canada’s Chief Science Advisor says “partial immunity is something that people need to be very wary of. And it’s probably best to just vaccinate as recommended and as studied for now.” 2:18
Canada’s chief science adviser, Mona Nemer, however, told Power & Politics host Vassy Kapelos on Monday that the studies so far and the “vast majority” of the data on the Pfizer and Moderna products “are from studies where they were given three to four weeks apart, not three to four months apart.”
Nemer cited concerns about a lack of data and variants of the virus, saying that “it’s probably best to just vaccinate as recommended and as studied for now.”
Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease expert and member of Ontario’s vaccine task force, said Tuesday that given the current public health emergency, people should expect to see more debate about how far the second dose can be extended.
There is “emerging data from multiple sources, from multiple groups, that do demonstrate that it is OK to extend the second dose,” Bogoch told CBC’s Heather Hiscox. He pointed to Ontario as an example, saying the second doses of Pfizer and Moderna shots were delayed by up to 42 days in certain cohorts.
WATCH | Public needs open, honest discussion to maintain trust in vaccines, says specialist:
Open communication about evolving decisions around COVID-19 vaccinations is very important to keep public trust, says Dr. Isaac Bogoch, a member of Ontario’s COVID-19 task force. 8:14
-From The Associated Press, The Canadian Press and CBC News, last updated at 11:10 a.m. ET
What’s happening across Canada
As of 11:15 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Canada had reported 871,596 cases of COVID-19, with 30,198 cases considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths stood at 22,036.
In Quebec, health officials reported 588 new cases of COVID-19 and eight additional deaths. Hospitalizations in the province stood at 628, with 121 COVID-19 patients in intensive care units.
Ontario on Tuesday reported 966 new cases of COVID-19 and 11 additional deaths. The number of COVID-19 patients in hospital stood at 677, with 284 in intensive care units.
In Atlantic Canada, Prince Edward Island reported four new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday — including two cases of the B117 variant. The province is currently in a circuit-breaker lockdown as it tries to clamp down on two clusters of cases, one in Summerside and one in Charlottetown.
WATCH | Vaccine advisory committee contradicts Health Canada on AstraZeneca vaccine:
Just days after Health Canada approved the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for all adults over 18, a committee that advises the federal government on immunization says it shouldn’t be given to people over 65. 3:30
In the Prairie provinces, Manitoba reported 35 new cases of COVID-19 — its lowest daily case number in months — and one additional death on Monday. In neighbouring Saskatchewan, health officials reported 154 new cases of COVID-19 and no additional deaths.
Alberta, meanwhile, reported 291 new cases of COVID-19 and two additional deaths on Monday. The province is easing COVID-19 restrictions on indoor fitness centres and libraries.
However, it is delaying lifting measures for hotels, banquet halls, community halls and conference centres. Premier Jason Kenney says there has been a sharp decline in hospitalizations and cases in long-term care homes. However, he said caution is needed because the test positivity rate and cases of new, more transmissible variants are rising.
In British Columbia, health officials reported 1,428 new COVID-19 cases from Saturday to Monday, for a total of 80,672 cases in the province since the pandemic began.
Across the North, there was one new case reported in Nunavut and no new cases reported in the Northwest Territories or Yukon.
Here’s a look at what else is happening across the country:
-From The Canadian Press and CBC News, last updated at 11:15 a.m. ET
What’s happening around the world
As of early Tuesday morning, more than 114.4 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, with 64.6 million of the cases listed on the Johns Hopkins database as recovered. The global death toll stood at more than 2.5 million, the U.S.-based university reported.
In the Asia-Pacific region, China aims to vaccinate 40 per cent of its population by the end of July, a senior health adviser said, requiring a significant increase in shots even as it ramps up vaccine exports.
Indonesia says it has detected two cases of the more infectious variant first identified in Britain.
A medical officer prepares a dose of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine during a mass vaccination program on Tuesday in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. (Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)
South Korea’s decision to allow more doses to be extracted from vaccine vials sparked controversy as it ramped up its vaccinations of health-care workers and the elderly.
In the Americas, Ecuador named a new health minister, after the previous minister resigned following accusations of irregularities in a vaccination pilot program.
Argentina received 732,500 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine, while Nicaragua is set to begin its inoculation campaign on Tuesday.
Colombia on Monday became the first country in the Americas to receive a vaccine shipment from the UN-backed COVAX initiative.
Brazilian health officials are urging nationwide lockdowns and curfews because hospitals are running short of intensive-care unit beds as COVID-19 claims more than 1,000 lives each day in the country.
“The return of the pandemic in several states is making their private and their public assistance networks collapse and has brought imminent risk of spreading it to all regions of Brazil,” Brazil’s National Council of Health Secretaries said Monday, noting that the nation is experiencing its worst moment since the pandemic began.
In the Middle East, Iraq received its first 50,000 doses of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine donated by China.
The Saudi Ministry of Health has announced that Muslims who want to perform the annual hajj pilgrimage this year will need to prove that they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19.
The government says it will consider coronavirus vaccination as “the main condition for participation” in the pilgrimage to Mecca that all Muslims who can are obliged to make once in their lives.
The statement did not specify whether the hajj, which traditionally draws some two million Muslims from across the world, would again exclude pilgrims from outside the kingdom to prevent contagion.
In Europe, Spain’s jobless total reached four million in February, as COVID-19 restrictions led to the first month of job destruction since last May.
Austria’s leader says his country and Denmark intend to stop relying solely on the European Union for coronavirus vaccines and will work with Israel to produce second-generation vaccines.
A worker tests a French national going to Germany at the German-French border near Saarbrucken on Tuesday. Germany announced Sunday that travellers from France’s northeastern Moselle region will face additional restrictions because of the high rate of variant coronavirus cases there. (Jean-Francois Badias/The Associated Press)
Chancellor Sebastian Kurz plans to visit Israel with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Thursday and confer with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on vaccine research and production co-operation.
Serbia’s epidemiologists have called for the government to introduce a state of emergency and a strict lockdown to halt a surge in coronavirus infections in the Balkan country.
The numbers of daily new cases have been rising sharply in the nation of seven million despite a mass inoculation campaign that has reached one million people already.
Chief epidemiologist Predrag Kon on Tuesday told the state RTS television that “we must ban contacts or we will break, and then realize what it means when the health system collapses.”
-From The Associated Press and Reuters, last updated at 7:15 a.m. ET
OTTAWA – The National Hockey League’s Senators and the National Capital Commission have reached an agreement in principle to build a new arena in downtown Ottawa.
The NCC and the Senators announced at a joint press conference Friday that the arena will be part of a development of the LeBreton Flats site.
The team had entered a memorandum of understanding with the NCC to develop the downtown LeBreton Flats area, with a deadline of Friday to reach a deal.
The Senators will be purchasing a 10-acre site from the NCC, which team president and chief executive officer Cyril Leeder called a significant step forward. He said next steps will include working on the design of a new facility.
The Senators have played at the Canadian Tire Centre in the western suburb of Kanata since 1996.
The 25-kilometre drive from Ottawa’s downtown to the Kanata facility, often made longer due to traffic, has been cited as an obstacle for attracting walk-up crowds — an issue teams with downtown arenas don’t face.
A previous deal to redevelop LeBreton Flats and build an arena under former owner Eugene Melnyk collapsed in 2019 following a fallout between Melnyk and business partner John Ruddy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2024
Coach John Herdman finds himself between a rock and a hard place ahead of Toronto FC’s game Saturday at the Colorado Rapids.
With just four regular-season games remaining, eighth-place Toronto (11-16-3) needs points to stay above ninth-place Philadelphia and 10th-place D.C. United in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt. The two chasing teams are both three points behind with a game in hand.
The eighth- and ninth-place teams meet in a playoff wild-card game, with the winner moving on to take on the first seed in the East (currently Inter Miami).
But Herdman has to balance his playoff push with Wednesday’s Canadian Championship final in Vancouver against the defending champion Whitecaps — a chance to lift a trophy and secure a berth in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, the elite club competition in North and Central America and the Caribbean.
Injuries are another concern.
Both captain Jonathan Osorio and Italian star Lorenzo Insigne had to leave the 2-0 mid-week loss to visiting Columbus. Herdman said while both are “OK to be put on the team sheet,” the extent of their weekend participation will be decided with one eye on the cup final.
Defenders Nicksoen Gomis and Henry Wingo are out with hamstring injuries.
On the plus side, Shane O’Neil returns from suspension and fellow defender Kevin Long, who missed the last two games with a hamstring injury, is expected to be available for some minutes off the bench.
“There will be some (personnel) shifts for sure, to accommodate the cup final, but at the same time there’s still players that are trying to earn their right into that cup final, on form,” Herdman said after training Friday.
After Vancouver, Toronto returns to league play, visiting the Chicago Fire on Sept. 28 before returning home to host the Red Bulls on Oct. 2 and Inter Miami on Oct. 5.
Colorado (14-10-5) sits fourth in the Western Conference, tied on points with Seattle but ahead in the standings because it has played one less game than the Sounders.
Former Toronto coach Chris Armas took charge of the Rapids last November, inheriting a team that finished last in the Western Conference at 5-17-12. Colorado was 28th in the Supporters’ Shield standings, five points ahead of cellar-dwelling Toronto (4-20-10).
Colorado goes in Saturday’s game seventh overall in the league, with nine more wins and 20 more points than last season.
The Rapids are coming off a 4-1 loss at Sporting Kansas City that snapped a three-game win streak.
“There’s going to be nights like that,” Armas said after the mid-week defeat. “The 29th game (of the regular season) in MLS I believe. You can’t have your good stuff all the time. And we’ve had it for most of the season.”
He called the loss “probably a wake-up call.”
“Everyone’s fighting for something. Everyone’s got something to play for in our league. Every team is capable,” he added.
Colorado is 9-2-3 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park this season, unbeaten in its last nine league games (7-0-2) there since a 3-2 loss to the San Jose Earthquakes on May 11. Toronto has not won there since a 1-0 decision in August 2008, going 0-5-2 since.
The teams played to a scoreless draw the last time they met in suburban Commerce City, in September 2021.
Colorado’s roster includes Canadian forward Kimani Stewart-Baynes as well as former CF Montreal midfielder Djordje Mihailovic, one of the Rapids’ designated players.
Defender Reggie Cannon made his debut for Colorado mid-week. The U.S. international joined the Rapids as a free agent following a stint with Queens Park Rangers in England’s second-tier Championship and three seasons with Boavista FC in the Portuguese top flight.
Toronto fired Armas in July 2021 in the wake of a humiliating 7-1 loss at D.C. United, the club’s sixth-straight defeat. Under the first-year coach, Toronto (1-8-2) was winless in seven and languishing in last place in the league.
Assistant coach Javier Perez ran the team for the rest of the season with Bob Bradley taking over as head coach and sporting director prior in November 2021.
Bradley was axed in June 2023 with TFC mired in 14th place in the East at 3-7-10, having won just two of its last 17 matches (2-7-8) in all competitions.
Assistant coach Terry Dunfield served as interim coach until Herdman arrived in October 2023.
Armas went on to serve as an assistant coach at Manchester United under Ralf Rangnick and Leeds United under Jesse Marsch, who succeeded Herdman as Canada coach.
“He’s a smart coach,” Herdman said of Armas. “He gets the best out of his players in terms of intensity and he recruits players that fit that style of play as well.”
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2024
KINGSTON – The only supervised consumption site in Kingston, Ont., will stay temporarily closed while the city says it carries out a review of its operations and security after two people were killed in a nearby attack.
In a news release this week, the City of Kingston says “substantive operational changes” need to be made at the Integrated Care Hub.
The city says the hub’s services are “crucial to support the most vulnerable in our community and it will reopen and reopen safely.”
Police say officers were called on Sept. 12 to a nearby encampment where they allege a 47-year-old male suspect wielded an edged or blunt weapon and attacked three people, killing two and injuring one.
The suspect is facing two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. Police have said he was not living at the encampment, but at a residence nearby.
Mayor Bryan Paterson quickly called for the encampment to be cleared and the hub closed, a move denounced by a community legal clinic as premature and misguided.
The city says it will leave up a security fence blocking access to the Belle Park encampment and police will keep a presence in the area.
The city says further information will be provided when a reopening date is confirmed.
The move comes after the Ontario government announced last month it would close 10 supervised consumption sites by no later than March 2025 and prohibit any new ones from opening.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2024.
