The waning effectiveness of vaccines to stop the spread of the highly infectious Omicron variant of COVID-19 could mean it’s time for federal policy makers to consider lifting vaccine mandates, some experts suggest.
“It’s hard to really justify our mandates anymore,” said Dr Zain Chagla, an infectious diseases physician at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton and an associate professor at McMaster University.
Toronto’s Pearson International Airport has recently been a scene of snarling air passenger traffic, causing long lineups and major delays.
While government officials have blamed staffing shortages for problems, some industry groups and politicians are laying the blame on COVID-related border restrictions, including vaccine mandates that require travellers to prove their vaccine status using an app before entering Canada.
Prevent severe illness and death
Scientists stress that the vaccines do hold up against what matters — severe illness, hospitalization and death.
And Chagla said that when the Alpha and Delta variants of COVID-19 swept through, data showed that vaccination had a “profound effect” on stopping a significant amount of infections, and that people’s ability to transmit was reduced.
Travellers entering Canada must still upload proof of their vaccinations into the ArriveCan mobile app, above. (Government Of Canada)
But the vaccines’ abilities to prevent transmission of the virus changed with the Omicron variant, he says.
Last month, in a editorial for the Globe and Mail, under the headline: “The logic behind vaccine mandates for travellers no longer holds,” Chagla wrote that with the Omicron variant, vaccine efficacy “wanes significantly” to help prevent transmission. He pointed to data from the UK Health Security Agency that he said showed the effectiveness of two or three doses of vaccine against spreading the Omicron-variant infection over time approaches zero.
“We live in a world now where a lot of people have either been vaccinated or got COVID, that maybe one to two per cent of people isn’t in that category,” he told CBC News. “Are we really working hard to make sure that they’re not able to access a flight?” he said.
“They’re not necessarily at an increased risk of transmission as compared to the fully vaccinated person against the next variant.”
WATCH | Long lines frustrate passengers at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport:
Frustrations mount over delays at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport
2 days ago
Duration 10:30
Extremely long wait times affecting arriving and departing passengers at Toronto’s Pearson airport are likely to continue until Labour Day, a former Air Canada executive says.
Proof-of-vaccine certificates to enter public places have been largely removed in all provinces Canada. The remaining proof-of-vaccination policy requirement applies to federally regulated employees and for travel, especially by air overseas and to enter Canada.
However, the Public Health Agency of Canada recently announced that COVID-19 restrictions at the border will remain in place for at least another month. Those restrictions include vaccine mandates, which require travellers to use the ArriveCan mobile app to download proof of their vaccination before entering Canada.
Those who do not are subject to testing and quarantine.
Even as Omicron dominates, the vaccines are holding up against what matters — severe illness, hospitalization and death, experts say. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images)
Conservative motion shot down
The Canadian Airports Council and the Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable, an industry group formed during the COVID-19 pandemic, are among the industry organizations calling for vaccine mandates to be dropped.
WestJet Airlines has also called for the removal of mandates. Meanwhile, a federal Conservative motion calling for the removal of pandemic-related restrictions, including vaccine mandates, was shot down last month.
But Dr. Nazeem Muhajarine, professor of community health and epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, said that some research does indicate that vaccine booster doses do protect people from transmission of the virus.
“This last remaining vaccine policy should remain a little longer because the threat of COVID-19 and the harm it causes in terms of long COVID, deaths and hospitalization particularly in vulnerable people, elderly and in some cases in children hasn’t entirely disappeared,” he said.
Yet, Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore, Md., questioned the value those mandates now serve in light of the Omicron variant and population immunity.
“I think that increasingly it’s become less valuable than it was in the earlier eras in the pandemic, because the vaccine in the face of Omicron isn’t very great at protecting against infection, he said.
‘Much less value’ for travel
Because the vaccines hold up against severe illness, hospitalization and death, Adalja said there is still great value for employers to insist their workforce be vaccinated from a work-safety standpoint.
As for vaccine mandates for travel, “I think it has much less value,” he said. “I don’t think the ArriveCan [app] serves the same value that it once did.”
Appearing before a House of Commons health committee earlier this week,Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said the mandates were first implemented when there was a strong resurgence of the Delta variant and two doses of vaccines were very effective.
Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam said the mandates were first implemented when there was a strong resurgence of the Delta variant and two doses of vaccines were very effective. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
But Omicron was the “game changer,” she said.
“Given the reduced vaccine effectiveness, even with three doses against the Omicron variant, vaccines cannot prevent all transmissions alone,” she said.
“So, a layered approach has to be considered, including layering mask wearing, for instance. But these are the things that the relevant ministers need to consider.”
TORONTO – Roots Corp. may have built its brand on all things comfy and cosy, but its CEO says activewear is now “really becoming a core part” of the brand.
The category, which at Roots spans leggings, tracksuits, sports bras and bike shorts, has seen such sustained double-digit growth that Meghan Roach plans to make it a key part of the business’ future.
“It’s an area … you will see us continue to expand upon,” she told analysts on a Friday call.
The Toronto-based retailer’s push into activewear has taken shape over many years and included several turns as the official designer and supplier of Team Canada’s Olympic uniform.
But consumers have had plenty of choice when it comes to workout gear and other apparel suited to their sporting needs. On top of the slew of athletic brands like Nike and Adidas, shoppers have also gravitated toward Lululemon Athletica Inc., Alo and Vuori, ramping up competition in the activewear category.
Roach feels Roots’ toehold in the category stems from the fit, feel and following its merchandise has cultivated.
“Our product really resonates with (shoppers) because you can wear it through multiple different use cases and occasions,” she said.
“We’ve been seeing customers come back again and again for some of these core products in our activewear collection.”
Her remarks came the same day as Roots revealed it lost $5.2 million in its latest quarter compared with a loss of $5.3 million in the same quarter last year.
The company said the second-quarter loss amounted to 13 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Aug. 3, the same as a year earlier.
In presenting the results, Roach reminded analysts that the first half of the year is usually “seasonally small,” representing just 30 per cent of the company’s annual sales.
Sales for the second quarter totalled $47.7 million, down from $49.4 million in the same quarter last year.
The move lower came as direct-to-consumer sales amounted to $36.4 million, down from $37.1 million a year earlier, as comparable sales edged down 0.2 per cent.
The numbers reflect the fact that Roots continued to grapple with inventory challenges in the company’s Cooper fleece line that first cropped up in its previous quarter.
Roots recently began to use artificial intelligence to assist with daily inventory replenishments and said more tools helping with allocation will go live in the next quarter.
Beyond that time period, the company intends to keep exploring AI and renovate more of its stores.
It will also re-evaluate its design ranks.
Roots announced Friday that chief product officer Karuna Scheinfeld has stepped down.
Rather than fill the role, the company plans to hire senior level design talent with international experience in the outdoor and activewear sectors who will take on tasks previously done by the chief product officer.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, are set to resume today as a strike that has stopped most services drags into a second week.
No timeline has been set for the length of the negotiations, but Joe McCann, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they are willing to stay there as long as it takes, even if talks drag on all night.
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people unable to navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last Tuesday, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
Hundreds of drivers rallied outside TransLink’s head office earlier this week, calling for the transportation provider to intervene in the dispute with Transdev, which was contracted to oversee HandyDART service.
Transdev said earlier this week that it will provide a reply to the union’s latest proposal on Thursday.
A statement from the company said it “strongly believes” that their employees deserve fair wages, and that a fair contract “must balance the needs of their employees, clients and taxpayers.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MONTREAL – Travel company Transat AT Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year earlier as its revenue edged lower.
The parent company of Air Transat says it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31.
The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue in what was the company’s third quarter totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
Transat chief executive Annick Guérard says demand for leisure travel remains healthy, as evidenced by higher traffic, but consumers are increasingly price conscious given the current economic uncertainty.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
