OTTAWA —
The first one-shot COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson has been authorized by Health Canada, making it the fourth vaccine that can be administered to Canadians.
Health Canada is now the first major regulator to have approved four different COVID-19 vaccines for use, said chief medical adviser at Health Canada Dr. Supriya Sharma during a briefing announcing the approval.
The authorization follows “an independent and thorough scientific review for safety, efficacy, and quality,” Sharma said.
Canada can now use the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines in its ongoing mass vaccination campaign, largely viewed as a key pillar in overcoming the nearly year-long pandemic.
Canada’s federal health agency has been assessing the viral vector Johnson & Johnson shot since Nov. 30, and like the AstraZeneca vaccine given the green light last Friday, it will be logistically easier to administer as it can be shipped at temperatures between two- to eight-degrees Celsius and stored in those refrigerated conditions for at least three months.
Vials of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine can be kept for three hours at room temperature once the seal has been punctured, while it can stay stable if unopened for up to 12 hours.
“This is a game changer,” physician Dr. Lisa Salamon said in an interview on CTV News Channel. “Family doctors can give it to their patients; it can be given in pharmacies, public health units.”
Overall, in clinical trials involving approximately 43,000 participants, the single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was shown to be 66 per cent effective in preventing moderate to severe COVID-19, two weeks after vaccination.
As with other vaccines, Sharma said common side effects include pain and tenderness at the injection site, headache, muscle pain, fever, and chills. The majority of adverse reactions reported during the clinical trials were mild to moderate in severity, and resolved within a few days.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been approved for use in adults 18 years of age and older, and with nearly 20 per cent of the participants in clinical trials being 65 years of age and older, no difference in safety or efficacy was seen compared to the younger age groups.
Health Canada has also approved a clinical trial for the vaccine in children ages 12 to 17 that’s yet to recruit patients, while trials are underway with the other vaccines but do not have Canadian sites.
There is an also on ongoing study considering a second shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which federal health officials say they’ll keep an eye on.
Sharma said that the Johnson & Johnson shot has shown to provide “acceptable levels” of protection against the B.1.351 variant first discovered in South Africa and against the P.1 variant first identified in Brazil.
Seeking to clarify concerns around whether certain approved vaccines are superior given their higher efficacy rates, Sharma said that any of the Health Canada authorized shots will “greatly” reduce the change of contracting COVID-19.
“The efficacy rate does not mean that following vaccination with a vaccine with 66 per cent efficacy, that you will have a 34 per cent chance of contracting COVID-19,” Sharma said.
“It’s not just about getting COVID-19, what’s really important is whether any of the vaccines will prevent you from being hospitalized, or dying of COVID-19,” she said, noting that all the vaccines approved so far are effective at preventing severe illness or death.
WHEN WILL IT ARRIVE?
The federal government has secured access to up to 38 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, with a deal in place for at least 10 million doses and the option to purchase 28 million more.
During a briefing on Canada’s vaccine rollout on Thursday, director general for vaccines at Public Services and Procurement Canada Joelle Paquette told reporters that the 10 million doses are expected by the end of September.
It’s unclear how quickly the initial delivery of these doses could arrive in Canada, but with the addition of this vaccine to Canada’s COVID-19 inoculations arsenal it’s likely this country’s overall immunization timeline can be accelerated.
MORE DATA COMING
Regulatory approval deeming the Johnson & Johnson shot safe and effective for use in Canada comes on the heels of the United States approving the vaccine candidate from pharmaceutical company Jannsen last weekend, while other medical regulators such as the European Medicines Agency, continue their examination of the vaccine.
The vaccine was authorized with terms and conditions, including requiring the manufacturer to continue provide information to Health Canada on the safety, efficacy and quality of the vaccine.
With the authorization, Health Canada released a series of documents that detail the consumer information, the regulatory decision summary, as well as more data about the adverse events reported.
The agency says additional detailed information will be published in the coming weeks.
Typically, the vaccine submission review process can usually take up to a year, but because of an emergency order, Health Canada has been able to expedite the authorization process and has been able to assess rolling information as it comes in, rather than having to wait until the end of its work to begin reviewing the findings.
There is still a fifth vaccine still under review by Health Canada, the Novavax vaccine. Health officials said Friday there is “a fair amount” of information outstanding and Health Canada’s decision to authorize or not could be months away.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
