As COVID-19 cases decline and restrictions ease across the country, Canada’s chief public health officer is still urging younger Canadians to get their vaccine shot if they haven’t already in order to keep infections at bay.
“Vaccination is needed for all eligible ages — with cases still highest in <40 year olds in Canada,” Dr. Theresa Tam tweeted on Sunday.
“Vaccine coverage in younger age groups can have a big impact on COVID-19 control across communities.”
Health officials across the country are noting that young adults and youths are falling behind other demographics when it comes to vaccinations.
WATCH | Canadian kids share their vaccine experiences:
Andrew Chang speaks to two recently vaccinated young Canadians about what that moment was like for them, the challenges of the past year and what they are most looking forward to. 6:13
For instance, of Ontarians aged 19 to 29 who’ve contracted COVID-19 in the past three months, 96 per cent were unvaccinated, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore, said.
Of those who got tested positive in the 12-17 age group, 99 per cent were not vaccinated.
“That age group is coming down with a higher rate of disease than other age groups across Ontario,” Moore said, adding that young Ontarians will be a “key target” in the vaccination campaign.
“They’re a key metric, because they’re the ones that are going to be going to high schools, to colleges, to universities, to workplaces, and potentially, unbeknownst to them, if they’re carrying the virus without symptoms, spreading it in those environments.”
WATCH | Ontario pushes to get kids 12 and up vaccinated before fall:
With school eight weeks away, Ontario health officials examine what the upcoming school year will look like. Overall, vaccine numbers are good but the data shows a lag in vaccination rates among eligible younger Canadians. If vaccine pickup does not improve before the beginning of the school year, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kieran Moore is concerned about rising infections. 4:06
Canada’s vaccination rate is among the highest in the world — with nearly 70 per cent of the country having been administered at least one shot and 48.8 per cent fully vaccinated — but it’s starting to slow as the pool of people still looking for a first or second dose shrinks
The number of unvaccinated Canadians is roughly equivalent to everyone living in the Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Quebec City metropolitan areas combined.
Experts agree more people need to get the shot to avoid another pandemic resurgence with devastating consequences. The challenge now involves easing access and convincing hesitant Canadians to roll up their sleeves, experts said
After a blitz in April and May, the number of new first doses being administered has stalled at well under 100,000 per day since June 16. That means it would take months to immunize the remaining holdouts at the current pace.
What’s happening across Canada
As of 5:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, Canada had reported 1,423,177 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 4,616 considered active. The country’s COVID-19 death toll stood at 26,499. More than 45 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered so far across the country, according to a CBC News tally.
British Columbia, which lifted most of its COVID-19 restrictions on Canada Day, is set to further loosen measures for long-term care homes. Starting Monday, visitors will no longer need to schedule their visits in advance, and there will no longer be a limit on the number of visitors each resident can have, provided the visitors are fully vaccinated.
In Alberta, 74.2 per cent of eligible residents have had at least one vaccine shot and 57.65 per cent have received both.
Elsewhere in the Prairies, Saskatchewan recorded 36 new COVID-19 cases but no new fatalities on Sunday, while Manitoba logged 44 infections and one COVID-related death.
A person is administered a COVID-19 vaccine shot at a clinic in Winnipeg on Friday. (Marina von Stackelberg/CBC)
Ontario registered another 177 cases and six more deaths. The province also announced it has now administered more than 18 million vaccine doses.
In Quebec, the province is holding a lottery for $2 million in cash and scholarships in an effort to encourage more people to get their COVID-19 vaccine.
Prince Edward Island is marking its first day of letting in fully vaccinated Canadians from outside the Maritimes without the need for them to self-isolate after arriving on the Island. The province currently has no known active cases of COVID-19.
WATCH | 2 largest COVID-19 testing sites in P.E.I. winding down operations:
‘There is going to be much less need of testing over the next number of months,’ says P.E.I.’s Chief of Nursing Marion Dowling. 7:26
In Newfoundland and Labrador, active cases stood at 46, nearly all of them aboard two ships anchored in Conception Bay.
In the North, the territories continue to lead the country in percentage of fully vaccinated eligible residents, which stands at 81.5 per cent in Yukon, 77.3 per cent in the Northwest Territories and 63 per cent in Nunavut.
What’s happening around the world
As of Sunday, more than 190.1 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported, according to a tool from U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University, which has been collecting coronavirus data from nations around the world. The reported death toll stood at more than four million.
In Asia, the Vietnamese government has put the entire southern region in a two-week lockdown starting at midnight. Officials say they have to act as the number of infections reached nearly 50,000 since the outbreak reemerged at the end of April after several months of no cases being recorded.
A person wearing a face mask rides a scooter on a quiet street in Vung Tau, Vietnam, on Sunday. The government has put the entire southern region in a two-week lockdown. (Hau Dinh/The Associated Press)
In the Americas, residents in Los Angeles County — the largest county in the United States — are again required to wear masks indoors regardless of their vaccination status as health officials hope the mandate will reverse the latest spikes in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
In Europe, daily new caseloads of confirmed COVID-19 infections are surging in Italy. Health experts say it’s clear that nationwide celebrations by Italian fans after European Championship soccer matches are a significant factor.
In Africa, health officials warn that cases are surging in Senegal as millions in the West African nation prepare for the Tabaski holiday. President Macky Sall and his cabinet are limiting public gatherings and travel and urging the public to continue wearing masks and frequently sanitize their hands.
OTTAWA – The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed a bid by the Prince Edward Island Potato Board to overturn a 2021 decision by the federal agriculture minister to declare the entire province as “a place infested with potato wart.”
That order prohibited the export of seed potatoes from the Island to prevent the spread of the soil-borne fungus, which deforms potatoes and makes them impossible to sell.
The board had argued in Federal Court that the decision was unreasonable because there was insufficient evidence to establish that P.E.I. was infested with the fungus.
In April 2023, the Federal Court dismissed the board’s application for a judicial review, saying the order was reasonable because the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said regulatory measures had failed to prevent the transmission of potato wart to unregulated fields.
On Tuesday, the Appeal Court dismissed the board’s appeal, saying the lower court had selected the correct reasonableness standard to review the minister’s order.
As well, it found the lower court was correct in accepting the minister’s view that the province was “infested” because the department had detected potato wart on 35 occasions in P.E.I.’s three counties since 2000.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
FREDERICTON – New Brunswick health officials are urging parents to get their children vaccinated against measles after the number of cases of the disease in a recent outbreak has more than doubled since Friday.
Sean Hatchard, spokesman for the Health Department, says measles cases in the Fredericton and the upper Saint John River Valley area have risen from five on Friday to 12 as of Tuesday morning.
Hatchard says other suspected cases are under investigation, but he did not say how and where the outbreak of the disease began.
He says data from the 2023-24 school year show that about 10 per cent of students were not completely immunized against the disease.
In response to the outbreak, Horizon Health Network is hosting measles vaccine clinics on Wednesday and Friday.
The measles virus is transmitted through the air or by direct contact with nasal or throat secretions of an infected person, and can be more severe in adults and infants.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Donald Trump is refusing to say how he voted on Florida’s abortion measure — and getting testy about it.
The former president was asked twice after casting his ballot in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday about a question that the state’s voters are considering. If approved, it would prevent state lawmakers from passing any law that penalizes, prohibits, delays or restricts abortion until fetal viability — which doctors say is sometime after 21 weeks.
If it’s rejected, the state’s restrictive six-week abortion law would stand.
The first time he was asked, Trump avoided answering. He said instead of the issue that he did “a great job bringing it back to the states.” That was a reference to the former president having appointed three conservative justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who helped overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 2022.
Pressed a second time, Trump snapped at a reporter, saying “you should stop talking about it.”
Trump had previously indicated that he would back the measure — but then changed his mind and said he would vote against it.
In August, Trump said he thought Florida’s ban was a mistake, saying on Fox News Channel, “I think six weeks, you need more time.” But then he said, “at the same time, the Democrats are radical” while repeating false claims he has frequently made about late-term abortions.
In addition to Florida, voters in eight other states are deciding whether their state constitutions should guarantee a right to abortion, weighing ballot measures that are expected to spur turnout for a range of crucial races.
Passing certain amendments in Arizona, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota likely would lead to undoing bans or restrictions that currently block varying levels of abortion access to more than 7 million women of childbearing age who live in those states.
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