The European Medicines Agency recommended conditional approval for a coronavirus vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer to be used across the European Union.
Following a closed-doors expert meeting Monday, the EU drug regulator said it was recommending the shot be licensed for use in people over 16 years of age, with some exceptions. The pharmaceutical companies will need to submit followup data on their vaccine for the next year.
“This is really a historic scientific achievement,” said Emer Cooke, the head of the agency. “It is a significant step forward in our fight against the pandemic.”
The approval needs to be rubber-stamped by the EU’s executive branch on Monday evening.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted that the EMA’s approval was decisive moment.
It’s a decisive moment in our efforts to deliver safe & effective vaccines to Europeans!<br><br>The <a href=”https://twitter.com/EMA_News?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@EMA_News</a> just issued a positive scientific opinion on the <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/BioNTech?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#BioNTech</a> / <a href=”https://twitter.com/pfizer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@pfizer</a> vaccine.<br><br>Now we will act fast. I expect a <a href=”https://twitter.com/EU_Commission?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@EU_Commission</a> decision by this evening.
Authorities in Germany and several other European countries have said they hope to begin vaccinating people on Dec. 27.
“Today is a particularly personal and emotional day for us at BioNTech,” said Ugur Sahin, the company’s chief executive and co-founder. “Being in the heart of the EU, we are thrilled to be one step closer to potentially delivering the first vaccine in Europe to help combat this devastating pandemic.”
“We are standing by ready to start the delivery of initial vaccine doses across the EU as soon as we get the green light,” Sahin said.
The European regulator came under heavy pressure last week from countries calling for the vaccine to be granted approval for use as quickly as possible. EMA originally set Dec. 29 as the date for its evaluation of the vaccine made by Germany-based BioNTech, but moved up the meeting to Monday after calls from the German government and other countries for the agency to move more quickly.
The vaccine has already been given some form of regulatory authorization in at least 15 countries, including Canada.
A worker is seen at a COVID-19 vaccination center in Berlin on Monday. (Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)
Britain and the U.S. authorized the vaccine to be used according to emergency provisions, meaning the shot is an unlicensed product whose temporary use is justified by the pandemic that has killed almost 1.7 million people worldwide to date, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
Health Canada said its approval was made under an interim order that allowed it to “assess information submitted by the manufacturer as it became available during the product development process, while maintaining Canada’s high standards.”
“Canadians can feel confident that the review process was rigorous and that we have strong monitoring systems in place,” the health agency said in a Dec. 9 statement announcing the authorization of the Pfizer-BioTech vaccine.
In a statement last week that appeared to address concerns by some in Europe about the speed of the process, the EMA stressed that the vaccine would only be approved after a scientific assessment showed its overall benefits outweighed the risks.
“A vaccine’s benefits in protecting people against COVID-19 must be far greater than any side-effect or potential risks,” it said.
Scientists are still waiting for more long-term followup data to see how long immunity from the vaccines lasts and if there are any rare or serious side-effects. Final testing of the vaccine is still ongoing. More information on whether the shot works in children is needed, in addition to its effects in pregnant women.
The vaccine is not made with the coronavirus itself, meaning there’s no chance anyone could catch it from the shots. Instead, the vaccine contains a piece of genetic code that trains the immune system to recognize the spiked protein on the surface of the virus.
On the day Britain began its vaccination campaign, authorities warned people with severe allergies not to get the shot after two people suffered serious allergic reactions; it’s unclear if the reactions were caused by the immunization.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that as of Friday they had seen six cases of severe allergic reaction out of more than 250,000 shots of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine given, including in one person with a history of vaccination reactions.
BioNTech and Pfizer offered the EU 400 million doses of the vaccine, but the bloc’s executive Commission chose to buy only 200 million doses, with an option for 100 million more.
The EMA plans to hold a meeting on Jan. 12 to decide if the coronavirus vaccine made by Moderna should be licensed. It has reviews ongoing for a shot developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca and another from Janssen, but neither of those have made a formal request for the EMA to approve their vaccine.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, meanwhile, said “timely efforts” to prevent and control the spread of cases of COVID-19 involving the new coronavirus variant observed in Britain are needed, but infections have already been reported in at least three other countries in Europe.
The Stockholm-based agency said in a “threat assessment” Monday that while preliminary analysis in the U.K. suggests the new variant is “significantly more transmissible” there is no indication that infections are more severe.
ECDC said a few cases with the new variant have been reported already by Iceland, Denmark and the Netherlands. It also cited media reports of cases in Belgium and Italy.
What’s happening across Canada
As of 7:30 a.m. ET on Monday, Canada’s COVID-19 case count stood at 507,795 with 76,859 of those cases considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths based on provincial reports, regional health information and CBC’s reporting stood at 14,228.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is set to address the public Monday afternoon after sources said the entire province will be sent into lockdown on Dec. 24. The province — which as of Sunday had 875 COVID-19 patients in hospital, including 261 in intensive care units — has seen six days straight with more than 2,000 daily cases of COVID-19.
What’s happening in the U.S.
U.S. congressional leaders reached agreement on Sunday on a $900 billion US package to provide the first new aid in months to an economy and individuals battered by the surging coronavirus pandemic, with votes likely on Monday.
The package would be the second-largest economic stimulus in U.S. history, following a $2.3 trillion aid bill passed in March. It comes as the pandemic accelerates, infecting more than 214,000 people in the country each day. More than 317,000 Americans have already died.
The package would give $600 direct payments to individuals and boost unemployment payments by $300 a week. It also includes billions for small businesses, food assistance, vaccine distribution, transit and health care. It extends a moratorium on foreclosures and provides $25 billion in rental aid.
WATCH | Millions in U.S. at risk of homelessness without support, eviction ban:
Millions of renters in the U.S. are in limbo as they wait for a new COVID-19 financial package from Congress. Without an extended evictions ban and other financial support, many of those renters could become homeless. 1:59
The United States is monitoring the new strain of COVID-19 emerging in Britain, multiple U.S. officials said, adding that it was unclear whether the mutated variant had made its way to the U.S.
What’s happening around the world
As of early Monday morning, more than 76.9 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported around the world with more than 43.3 million of those cases considered recovered or resolved, according to a coronavirus tracking tool maintained by Johns Hopkins University. The global death toll was approaching 1.7 million.
In Africa, South Africa announced that a new variant of the COVID-19 virus is driving the country’s current resurgence of the disease, which is seeing higher numbers of confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
The new variant, known as 501.V2, is dominant among new confirmed infections in South Africa, according to health officials and scientists leading the country’s virus strategy.
“It is still very early but at this stage, the preliminary data suggests the virus that is now dominating in the second wave is spreading faster than the first wave,” Prof. Salim Abdool Karim, chair of the government’s ministerial advisory committee, said in a briefing to journalists.
South Africa may see “many more cases” in the new wave than it experienced in the first surge of the disease, said Abdool Karim.
South Africa currently has more than 8,500 people hospitalized with COVID-19, surpassing the previous high of 8,300 recorded in August.
A nurse from Lancet Netcare hospital, right, performs a COVID-19 coronavirus test in Johannesburg, South Africa, late last week. (Luca Sola/AFP/Getty Images)
“We are seeing a much earlier and much sharper rise in the second wave or resurgence than we anticipated,” Prof. Ian Sanne, a member of the advisory committee, told South Africa’s News24.
The new strain, different from the one in Britain, appears to be more infectious than the original virus. South African scientists are studying if the vaccines against COVID-19 will also offer protection against the new strain.
Some of the vaccines, including the one developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, are undergoing clinical tests in South Africa. The scientists studying the new variant emphasized that preventive measures like wearing masks and social distancing are vital.
In response to the resurgence of COVID-19, the South African government has introduced tougher lockdown restrictions which include limited days and hours for the trade of alcohol and the closure of beaches in areas identified as hotspots.
The country has recorded a total of 912,477 cases, including 24,539 deaths.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong will ban flights from Britain after a more infectious variant of the coronavirus was found in the country, according to the city’s top health official.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike on Monday asked all residents to celebrate Christmas and New Year at home just with their families and asked organizers to have events close early in the night.
Japan’s daily coronavirus cases have been steadily on the rise and Tokyo hit its new high at 822 last Friday. On Monday, the Japanese capital city found 392 new cases for a prefectural total of 51,838.
Thailand’s total number of confirmed coronavirus cases surged past 5,000 on Monday as hundreds of migrant workers tested positive for the disease.
Thailand has been one of several Southeast Asian countries that had been relatively unscathed by the pandemic. But on Saturday, health officials reported a daily record of 548 new cases, almost all of them among migrant workers in the seafood industry in Samut Sakhon province, about 35 kilometres southwest of Bangkok, the capital.
Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said his government would wait to see how the situation looked in a week’s time before deciding on any special restrictions for New Year’s celebrations.
In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia shut its land and sea borders late on Sunday and suspended international commercial flights temporarily over fears of a new coronavirus strain, but foreign flights already in the country can leave, the Interior Ministry said.
Fellow Gulf Arab state Oman will close its land, air and sea borders for one week starting Tuesday, state television reported on Monday.
In Kuwait, the civil aviation authority added the United Kingdom to its high-risk list of countries on Sunday, meaning all flights from it are banned.
The U.S. remained the hardest-hit country in the Americas, trailed by Brazil, which has seen more than 7.2 million reported cases of COVID-19 and more than 186,700 deaths.
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.
