TORONTO —
Canada won’t receive a single vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine this week due to an international shortage that has prompted finger-pointing in Ottawa and forced provinces to temporarily delay their vaccine rollouts.
For the next four weeks, Canada’s vaccine deliveries will be cut in half with up to 400,000 doses delayed, according to Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, who is leading the country’s vaccine rollout. Canada won’t receive any new deliveries from Pfizer this week, and only one-quarter of the previously promised delivery next week.
Pfizer advised Canada earlier this month that upgrades to its plant in Belgium would temporarily slow production and reduce doses delivered to every country except the United States, which has its own production facility. The factory is expected to return to full production on Feb. 15.
The upgrades are expected to help boost Pfizer’s annual production capacity from 1.3 billion shots in 2021 to up to 2 billion, which would be enough to cover about 13 per cent of the world’s population.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke directly to Pfizer’s CEO last week and said he was assured that, despite the slowdown, the company will fulfil its contractual promise to deliver four million doses to Canada by the end of March.
The next shipment of Canada’s second approved vaccine, from Moderna, is expected in the first week of February and will include an estimated 230,400 doses.
In the meantime, the temporary shortage has forced provinces and territories to pump the brakes on their vaccine rollout plans. Opposition parties have accused the Liberals of mishandling the vaccine rollout and pointed to other countries, including the U.S. and the U.K., where more people have received their shots.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE VACCINE ROLLOUT?
Federal health officials overseeing Canada’s vaccine plan insist the Pfizer delay is temporary and will not hamper the country’s long-term goal of vaccinating every Canadian by Sept. 30. Fortin said future shipments and “a rapid scale-up of deliveries in the upcoming weeks” will make up for the current shortage.
For now, provinces have started retooling their vaccination plans to prolong the time between vaccinations and, in some cases, are turning people away from new vaccine appointments.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford called the Pfizer shortage “a massive concern” and announced that the province will no longer be able to meet its goal of vaccinating all residents and staff in long-term care homes by Feb. 15.
Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and British Columbia will all slow down their vaccine schedules to stretch whatever vaccine supply they have on hand. The provinces will delay second doses up to 42 days, with Quebec prolonging the wait up to 90 days.
The National Advisory Council On Immunization has advised that the wait period between first and second doses could be extended up to 42 days.
In Alberta, officials have paused new appointments for those looking to get their first vaccine. Manitoba temporarily stopped booking new appointments but is expected to resume this week.
WILL THE SHORTAGE MEAN LONG-TERM DELAYS?
The federal government insists that the country’s long-term vaccine rollout remains on track. Officials released projections last week that suggest Canada will still meet its goal of vaccinating 3 million people by the end of March, accounting for eight per cent of the entire population. A total of 36 million Canadians are expected to be vaccinated by the end of September.
Even if Canada doesn’t approve any more vaccines by the fall, estimates suggest that doses from Pfizer and Moderna will cover 13 million Canadians, or 34 per cent, by June and 36 million, or 95 per cent, by September 30.
Canada’s vaccine rollout could happen even faster if more vaccines are approved. The projections suggest that, based on all vaccines Canada has procured but have yet to be approved, as many as 23 million Canadians could be vaccinated between April and June, accounting for 61 per cent of the population. Canada could have enough doses for up to 73 million people between July on September. In such a scenario, there would be more than enough vaccines for everyone who wants one.
HOW DOES CANADA COMPARE TO OTHER COUNTRIES?
So far, 761,530 people in Canada have received at least their first shot of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, accounting for roughly two per cent of the population.
In the United States, about six per cent of the population has received at least their first shot. However, the U.S. is lagging when it comes to administering available vaccines, with only about half of all shots available still undistributed.
In Israel, which secured a large stock of Pfizer vaccines from the get-go, more than 2.5 million of the country’s 9 million people have been vaccinated. Teenagers between 16 and 18 are now receiving vaccines on the condition that they receive parental permission. https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/israel-expands-vaccination-campaign-to-teens-1.5279506
Canada’s rollout is more on par with countries such as Finland, Austria, Poland, Switzerland and Estonia, all of which have vaccinated around two per cent of their populations.
Canada is hardly alone when it comes to the delays. Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and several European countries have all begun slowing down vaccinations, and Italy has threatened to sue Pfizer.
In Ottawa, the Liberals have been criticized for how they’re managing the rollout. Some members of the opposition have called on Trudeau to ask U.S. President Joe Biden for help.
NDP House Leader Peter Julian said the Liberals need to explain the situation to Canadians.
“Why are other countries ahead?” Julian said. “That’s the question that the government will have to respond to. And we believe that the government needs to very clearly spell out their plan to accelerate the vaccine distribution across the country.”
The government says it has worked hard to secure as many doses as possible and signed multiple contracts in anticipation of multiple vaccine candidates booming available in the coming months.
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.
