Quebecers in the Montreal area should be able to book vaccine appointments at local pharmacies starting Monday as the province continues to expand its COVID-19 immunization campaign, while Ontario launched its vaccination booking website.
Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé announced earlier this month that some 350 pharmacies in the Montreal area will start taking appointments through the province’s vaccine booking portal Monday, with shots to begin March 22. He said the program will eventually expand to more than 1,400 pharmacies across the province that will administer about two million doses.
The Montreal region is being prioritized in part because of the presence of more contagious COVID-19 variants, such as the B117 variant first identified in the United Kingdom.
As of Sunday evening, people age 70 and up were able to register for shots across the province, while in Montreal the target age drops to 65.
The province announced in January it would delay the second of two doses of COVID-19 vaccines for up to 90 days, going against manufacturer recommendations and the early advice of Canada’s expert panel on the subject.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization has since revised its recommendation to suggest provinces maximize the number of people getting a first dose by extending the interval for the follow-up shot for up to four months.
As of Sunday evening, more than three million COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered across Canada, with Ontario leading the way at over 1.1 million doses, followed by Quebec at over 715,000 million doses.
In Ontario, meanwhile, people over 80 are now able to book appointments for vaccines given at the province’s mass immunization clinics. Qualifying residents can visit the online portal or call a hotline to book their appointment.
Health Minister Christine Elliott noted on Twitter that not all health units are using the provincial portal, and urged people to check how to book in their area.
Details of the provincial portal came as Ontario reported 1,747 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday and 15 virus-related deaths, though officials say the numbers are likely inflated by data catch-up efforts.
-From The Canadian Press and CBC News, last updated at 9:30 a.m. ET
What’s happening in Canada
WATCH | Dr. Bonnie Henry on the early days of the pandemic and what’s ahead:
British Columbia’s Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry talks to Ian Hanomansing about what the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic were like, which she has chronicled in a new book written with her sister, and what the next few months could bring. 8:13
As of early Monday morning, Canada had reported 909,162 cases of COVID-19, with 31,672 cases considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths stood at 22,463.
In Atlantic Canada, there were a total of six cases of COVID-19 reported on Sunday — five in New Brunswick and one case in Nova Scotia.
Health officials in Newfoundland and Labrador reported no new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, the province’s second day in a row without a new case. There were no new cases reported in Prince Edward Island, which has not recorded a single death attributed to COVID-19.
In the Prairie provinces, Manitoba reported 44 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday and one additional death. According to the province, more than half of the new cases were in the Winnipeg area. In Saskatchewan, meanwhile, health officials reported 98 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday and two additional deaths.
Alberta health officials reported 388 new cases and six additional deaths on Monday. The province also reported its first cases of the P1 variant, which was originally linked to Brazil. Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province’s chief medical officer of health, said on Twitter that there were two travel-related cases.
“Our labs are screening every positive case for variants of concern to help identify them as quickly as possible. In addition, we also do full genetic sequencing on about 400 cases a week,” she said in a Twitter thread about the variant cases.
Across the North, there were no new cases reported in Yukon, the Northwest Territories or Nunavut on Sunday.
-From CBC News and The Canadian Press, last updated at 7:15 a.m. ET
What’s happening around the world
Students attend Rosshall Academy as all pupils in Scotland return for some class time on Monday in Glasgow, Scotland. Scotland allowed its secondary school students to return to classrooms part time Monday after having closed schools to most pupils due to concerns over the spread of COVID-19. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
As of early Monday morning, more than 119.9 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, with more than 67.9 million of those cases listed as recovered on the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 tracking tool. The global death toll stood at more than 2.6 million.
In Europe, half of Italy’s regions have gone into the strictest form of lockdown in a bid to curb the latest spike in coronavirus infections that have brought COVID-19 hospital admissions beyond manageable thresholds.
Schools, from daycare centres through university level, and retail shops were shuttered Monday in nine regions and the autonomous province of Trento, with restaurants open only for takeout. The “red zones” were imposed up and down the peninsula, from Lombardy in the north to Puglia in the south, with the Lazio region around the capital Rome in between.
The rest of the country was placed under a lesser “orange” level lockdown, while Sardinia remained “white” thanks to its ability to control new clusters of the virus traced to the variant first identified in Britain.
A woman walks past a closed cafe as Rome goes into lockdown on Monday as the country struggles to reduce COVID-19 infections. (Yara Nardi/Reuters)
The Health Ministry last fall developed a tiered status of restrictions classifying individual regions on a weekly basis based on their infection rates, hospital capacity and other criteria. Until recently only a few hard-hit regions were under full lockdown, but new clusters of highly contagious virus variants have meant more and more regions have passed into the tightest “red zone” restrictions, even as vaccinations ramp up.
Portugal, meanwhile, is emerging from a two-month pandemic lockdown, with the country gradually reopening over the next seven weeks if all goes to plan.
Germany is continuing to use AstraZeneca’s vaccine according to the European Medicines Agency’s guidelines despite reports about possible serious side-effects.
France must do everything to avoid a new lockdown as pressure on hospitals grows, the prime minister said on Sunday as the country reported more than 26,000 new cases.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Thailand will start using the AstraZeneca vaccine on Tuesday after a brief delay due to safety concerns.
Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical said on Monday it has signed an agreement with contract manufacturer IDT Biologika to manufacture Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine. Under the contract, the capacity previously reserved to make Takeda’s dengue vaccine candidate will be used to make J&J COVID-19 vaccines instead, Takeda said.
After three months, the capacity will be returned to Takeda to resume manufacturing for the planned launch of its dengue vaccine, the Japan-based drugmaker added.
J&J had previously tapped contract manufacturers such as Catalent and Emergent to scale up production and meet global supply goals. Rival drugmaker Merck also agreed to make J&J’s vaccine earlier this month.
South Korea’s most populous province ordered all of its foreign workers to be tested by March 22, sparking complaints of long lines and logistical problems, as well as of implicit xenophobia in government messaging.
Singapore and Australia are discussing an air travel bubble with each other to eliminate the need for quarantine as they look to reopen borders.
In the Middle East, protests erupted across many of Jordan’s cities and provincial towns against the government’s restrictions, a day after oxygen ran out at a state hospital leading to the deaths of at least six COVID-19 patients.
In the Americas, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took a dig at the U.S. government Sunday, saying the United States has not helped Mexico with coronavirus vaccines.
Lopez Obrador thanked India and Russia, which have sent small amounts, and China, whose firms have promised millions of doses. He said: “I hope that soon I will be able to say thanks to the U.S. government, because I am sure they are going to help too, it is just that that haven’t done so so far.”
COVID-19 patients rest in a field hospital built inside the Centro Citibanamex convention centre in Mexico City on March 11, 2021, on the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring the coronavirus a pandemic. (Fernando Llano/The Associated Press)
Mexico has seen almost 195,000 deaths, and almost 2.2 million cases. The country has approved six vaccines and has administered about 4.34 million shots.
The White House has rebuffed requests from U.S. allies, including Mexico, Canada and the European Union, for vaccine doses produced in the United States, where months of production runs have produced vaccine solely for use in the country.
The U.S. is scheduled to have enough approved vaccine delivered by mid-May to cover every American adult.
In Africa, South Africa’s reported total of COVID-19 cases stood at more than 1.5 million on Monday, with more than 51,300 deaths. The country, the hardest-hit on the continent, received additional doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine over the weekend, with more slated to arrive in the weeks ahead, a local press outlet reported.
–From The Associated Press, Reuters and CBC News, last updated at 8 a.m. ET
Have questions about the pandemic? We’re answering as many as we can in the comments.
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.
