OTTAWA —
Health Canada is advising Canadians to get immunized with whichever vaccine is available to them following reports of blood clotting with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
In a news release issued late Thursday night, Canada’s health agency said the “benefits of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in protecting Canadians from COVID-19 continue to outweigh the risks” and urging people to take the dose if it’s offered to them.
“Health Canada has assessed the available data on the reported events and has determined that the AstraZeneca vaccine has not been associated with an increase in the overall risk of blood clots,” the agency wrote in the release.
Health Canada’s statement echoes those of the European Medical Association and the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, which both said on Thursday that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks.
“Health Canada will continue to work with international regulators and review data and evidence as it becomes available, including as it pertains to these rare events,” Health Canada said.
This is a breaking news updatefrom CTVNews.ca. Previous coverage from The Canadian Press follows.
Quebec Health Minister Christian Dube rolled up his sleeve for the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine Thursday, a display of confidence in the injection that has recently been the focus of concerns over blood clots.
His public vaccination in Montreal came hours after the European Medicines Agency declared a review found no evidence the AstraZeneca shot raises the overall risk of blood clots.
“This is a safe and effective vaccine,” said Emer Cooke, executive director of the European Medicines Agency.
“Its benefits in protecting people from COVID-19, with the associated risks of death and hospitalization outweigh the possible risks. The committee also concluded that the vaccine is not associated with an increase in the overall risk of thromboembolic events or blood clots.”
However, Europe is adding a warning label to the vaccine because there isn’t any evidence yet to determine if it played any role in the development of rare blood clots in the brains of 18 patients who received it. Another seven patients who developed a rare condition that includes very low platelet counts and multiple small blood clots in veins throughout their body are also inconclusive, the agency said.
“The evidence we have is, at the moment, not sufficient to conclude with certainty whether these adverse events are indeed caused by the vaccine or not,” said Dr. Sabine Straus, chair of the agency’s Pharmacovigilance and Risk Assessment Committee.
She noted the cases were found in nearly 20 million vaccinations given in the United Kingdom, Europe and India.
The U.K. Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency issued similar news earlier Thursday, saying it firmly believes the vaccine is safe and effective but is doing a more detailed study looking at blood clots in the brain.
Health Canada, which had officials at the European meeting Thursday morning, has not yet reacted to the decision, or said if it intends to add a warning label here.
Thrombosis Canada President Dr. James Douketis said the group’s leadership team was meeting Thursday evening to discuss the European findings and would have an updated statement for Canadians no later than Friday.
Last week Thrombosis Canada said there was no evidence linking the vaccine to blood clots and “strongly” recommended people get vaccinated.
Douketis, an internal medicine physician specializing in blood clots at St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton, said the number of incidents of blood clots has been very small, and he said COVID-19 can and does cause far more people to develop blood clots.
Vaccinations are likely preventing a lot of blood clots by preventing people from getting COVID-19, he said.
The first known report of a similar blood clot in Canada came Thursday, after a 79-year-old man in Quebec was admitted to hospital suffering from cerebral venous thrombosis, a blood clot in the vein that drains blood from the brain.
The patient received the AstraZeneca vaccine several days earlier.
Dube said authorities are looking into the case but there is no link at this time between the condition and getting the vaccine.
Earlier this week, Dr. Marc Berthiaume, the director of the medical sciences bureau at Health Canada, said the department had two reports of blood clots in patients who had received the vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech.
Blood clots do occur naturally in some patients, and there has been no known link to vaccines before the COVID-19 outbreak.
More than 15 European countries had halted the use of AstraZeneca pending the EMA review. France, Germany and Italy all said they would resume those injections Friday.
Before Europe’s report was released Thursday, deputy chief public health officer Dr. Howard Njoo said Canada believed the vaccine was safe and effective.
“The fact is that all four COVID-19 vaccines authorized by Health Canada meet our country’s high standards for safety, and provide a high degree of protection against severe illness and death related to COVID-19,” said Njoo.
Cooke said the warning label is not meant to advise people against getting the vaccine but to raise awareness so people who do get it are told what signs to look out for when it comes to blood clots.
“If it was me, I would be vaccinated tomorrow,” she said.
Cooke said there are thousands of people dying every day from COVID-19 and this vaccine is effective against the novel coronavirus.
Canadian provinces began administering 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine last week. Canada’s doses are not made in the same place as the European or U.K. doses.
Thrombosis Canada issued a statement March 11 saying in general vaccines are not linked to the development of blood clots and it had no evidence that the AstraZeneca vaccine was any different.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2021.
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.
