Ontario is expected to receive its first shipment of the newly approved Moderna COVID-19 vaccine by Wednesday and start administering it in long-term care homes this week, according to the chair of the province’s COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Task Force.
Retired General Rick Hillier made the announcement Tuesday morning and said the province does “not have the Moderna vaccine in our hands” yet but expects to receive about 50,000 doses in the next 24 hours.
“We anticipate that Moderna will arrive tomorrow, and within 48 to 72 hours we will be vaccinating people in several long-term care homes, potentially a retirement home. And again, we’ll be composing a playbook as we do that, and learning the lessons…,” Hillier said.
Although Hillier said the province is still waiting on the vaccine, federal officials did receive the first shipment of it last week in Toronto. Ottawa is responsible for dividing the vaccines among all provinces and territories.
The Moderna vaccines will be delivered to four sites in hot zones located across southern Ontario that have been hardest-hit by the virus, Hillier said.
The vaccines will initially be deployed at long-term care homes because it’s easier to transport compared to the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine, which needs to be stored at at least -70C.
“We want to go into one or two or three long-term care homes, we want to do it very carefully. We want to vaccinate the residents there using the staff in the homes where it’s possible, augmenting them where it’s necessary and preparing a playbook from that,” he said.
Currently there are 19 vaccination sites open but Hillier said he expects two more will open by next week.
As of 4 p.m. on Tuesday, the province has administered more than 17,300 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. However, the inoculations represent a small number of doses that have already been shipped to the province.
Ontario has already received around 90,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Dec. 21.
The rollout of the Moderna vaccine is part of Phase 1 of the province’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout plan which is expected to inoculate 1.1 million people by April.
8.5 million people expected to be vaccinated by July
Hillier said the province expects to receive 50,000 doses of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in the beginning of January, followed by about 80,000 doses weekly of the Pfizer vaccine for the remainder of that month.
“And so by the end of Phase One [end of March], we hope to have vaccinated over a million health care workers, and people in the most vulnerable circumstances here in Ontario,” Hillier said. “We can’t do it any faster. We don’t have the vaccines coming to us any faster, and if we did we will use them more quickly.”
From April to July, 15 million doses are expected to be shipped to the province in Phase 2 and about 7.5 million people are set to receive the inoculation.
“We want to end Phase Two, with the bulk of the population, having had the opportunity to get the vaccine by the end of July,” Hillier said.
Phase 3 is set to begin near the end of July when the rest of Ontarians are expected to start receiving the vaccines at their doctor’s office or a pharmacy.
“Phase 3 for us is steady state. That is putting the COVID-19 vaccine into the same category as a shingles vaccine as a flu vaccine, and you can go to your family physician, your family clinic or the pharmacy closest to you, and you would be able to get your vaccine…,” he said.
The Ministry of Health also confirmed on Monday that vaccines are not being held back as they initially were in the beginning of the month to guarantee that those who were vaccinated would receive their necessary second dose.
“We are not holding or reserving doses, and are vaccinating as many people as possible, counting on confirmed shipments of the vaccine that will arrive over the coming weeks for second doses,” the statement read.
Ontario recorded a new single-day high of daily COVID-19 cases on Tuesday with 2,553 infections, beating the previous record of 2,447 on Christmas Eve.
Seventy-eight more people died from the disease in Ontario in the past 48 hours.
The province recorded 1,939 new cases on Monday, 2,005 on Sunday, 2,142 on Boxing Day and 2,159 on Christmas Day.
On Christmas Eve, most vaccination clinics were open with shortened hours and all clinics were then closed on Dec. 25 and Dec. 26. Just five hospitals opened clinics on Sunday, while 10 were operating Monday.
After receiving backlash for pausing the vaccination schedule, Hillier said “we got it wrong” and that he takes “full responsibility” for the decision.
“We heard loudly from people this past 36 to 48 hours, they want it rolling all the time and we are, as of this morning. We have 19 hospitals that are acting as vaccination sites, we will add to that in this coming week, we will be working straight through. We will not take any more days off until we win this war against COVID-19,” Hillier said on Tuesday.
In a statement on Monday, the Ministry of Health said the modified holiday schedule had been requested by hospitals due to “staffing challenges.”
“As a result, over the holidays hospital sites administering the vaccines requested to operate on slightly amended schedules, recognizing the challenges that the holidays can have on staffing levels in hospitals and long-term care homes,” the statement read.
However, Hillier later said that staffing wasn’t the issue and that the government wanted to give front-line workers a break during the holidays.
“We did it with honourable intentions. We felt that the folks working at long-term care homes who have reduced their staff somewhat working during the traditional holiday season to maybe get a little bit more of a break to some of the people who have been labouring so hard for the last 10 months…,” he said.
A number of doctors, including Ontario Medical Association President Samantha Hill, told CP24 that they would have gladly volunteered their time to keep vaccinations going over the holidays.
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.
Dollarama Inc.’s food aisles may have expanded far beyond sweet treats or piles of gum by the checkout counter in recent years, but its chief executive maintains his company is “not in the grocery business,” even if it’s keeping an eye on the sector.
“It’s just one small part of our store,” Neil Rossy told analysts on a Wednesday call, where he was questioned about the company’s food merchandise and rivals playing in the same space.
“We will keep an eye on all retailers — like all retailers keep an eye on us — to make sure that we’re competitive and we understand what’s out there.”
Over the last decade and as consumers have more recently sought deals, Dollarama’s food merchandise has expanded to include bread and pantry staples like cereal, rice and pasta sold at prices on par or below supermarkets.
However, the competition in the discount segment of the market Dollarama operates in intensified recently when the country’s biggest grocery chain began piloting a new ultra-discount store.
The No Name stores being tested by Loblaw Cos. Ltd. in Windsor, St. Catharines and Brockville, Ont., are billed as 20 per cent cheaper than discount retail competitors including No Frills. The grocery giant is able to offer such cost savings by relying on a smaller store footprint, fewer chilled products and a hearty range of No Name merchandise.
Though Rossy brushed off notions that his company is a supermarket challenger, grocers aren’t off his radar.
“All retailers in Canada are realistic about the fact that everyone is everyone’s competition on any given item or category,” he said.
Rossy declined to reveal how much of the chain’s sales would overlap with Loblaw or the food category, arguing the vast variety of items Dollarama sells is its strength rather than its grocery products alone.
“What makes Dollarama Dollarama is a very wide assortment of different departments that somewhat represent the old five-and-dime local convenience store,” he said.
The breadth of Dollarama’s offerings helped carry the company to a second-quarter profit of $285.9 million, up from $245.8 million in the same quarter last year as its sales rose 7.4 per cent.
The retailer said Wednesday the profit amounted to $1.02 per diluted share for the 13-week period ended July 28, up from 86 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
The period the quarter covers includes the start of summer, when Rossy said the weather was “terrible.”
“The weather got slightly better towards the end of the summer and our sales certainly increased, but not enough to make up for the season’s horrible start,” he said.
Sales totalled $1.56 billion for the quarter, up from $1.46 billion in the same quarter last year.
Comparable store sales, a key metric for retailers, increased 4.7 per cent, while the average transaction was down2.2 per cent and traffic was up seven per cent, RBC analyst Irene Nattel pointed out.
She told investors in a note that the numbers reflect “solid demand as cautious consumers focus on core consumables and everyday essentials.”
Analysts have attributed such behaviour to interest rates that have been slow to drop and high prices of key consumer goods, which are weighing on household budgets.
To cope, many Canadians have spent more time seeking deals, trading down to more affordable brands and forgoing small luxuries they would treat themselves to in better economic times.
“When people feel squeezed, they tend to shy away from discretionary, focus on the basics,” Rossy said. “When people are feeling good about their wallet, they tend to be more lax about the basics and more willing to spend on discretionary.”
The current economic situation has drawn in not just the average Canadian looking to save a buck or two, but also wealthier consumers.
“When the entire economy is feeling slightly squeezed, we get more consumers who might not have to or want to shop at a Dollarama generally or who enjoy shopping at a Dollarama but have the luxury of not having to worry about the price in some other store that they happen to be standing in that has those goods,” Rossy said.
“Well, when times are tougher, they’ll consider the extra five minutes to go to the store next door.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
TORONTO – The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered TD Bank Group to pay US$28 million for repeatedly sharing inaccurate, negative information about its customers to consumer reporting companies.
The agency says TD has to pay US$7.76 million in total to tens of thousands of victims of its illegal actions, along with a US$20 million civil penalty.
It says TD shared information that contained systemic errors about credit card and bank deposit accounts to consumer reporting companies, which can include credit reports as well as screening reports for tenants and employees and other background checks.
CFPB director Rohit Chopra says in a statement that TD threatened the consumer reports of customers with fraudulent information then “barely lifted a finger to fix it,” and that regulators will need to “focus major attention” on TD Bank to change its course.
TD says in a statement it self-identified these issues and proactively worked to improve its practices, and that it is committed to delivering on its responsibilities to its customers.
The bank also faces scrutiny in the U.S. over its anti-money laundering program where it expects to pay more than US$3 billion in monetary penalties to resolve.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
