Drug maker Johnson & Johnson says it will be able to provide 20 million doses of its single-shot COVID-19 vaccine to the U.S. government by the end of March, assuming it gets the green light from federal regulators.
J&J disclosed the figure ahead of a Congressional hearing on Tuesday looking at the country’s vaccine supply. White House officials cautioned last week that initial supplies of J&J’s vaccine would be limited.
The company reiterated that it will have capacity to provide 100 million vaccine doses to the U.S. by the end of June. That supply will help government officials reach the goal of having enough injections to vaccinate most adult Americans later this year. On a global scale, the company aims to produce one billion doses this year.
U.S. health regulators are still reviewing the safety and effectiveness of the shot and a decision to allow its emergency use is expected later this week. J&J’s vaccine would be the first in the U.S. that requires only a single shot.
Canada has an agreement with J&J for up to 38 million doses of its vaccine, pending approval from Health Canada.
Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two doses spaced weeks apart. Executives from both companies and two other vaccine makers will also testify at Tuesday’s hearing.
WATCH | Biden talks about lives lost as U.S. COVID-19 death toll surpasses 500,000:
U.S. President Joe Biden said the coronavirus doesn’t discriminate between Democrats and Republicans during a televised address ahead of a candle-lighting ceremony honouring the 500,000 people who have died as a result of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. 1:42
The U.S. has seen more recorded cases of COVID-19 than any other country in the world, with more than 28.1 million recorded cases. President Joe Biden on Monday described the death toll, which surpassed 500,000, as a “truly grim, heartbreaking milestone.”
Biden urged Americans to resist becoming “numb to the sorrow” and “viewing each life as a statistic.” The people lost were “extraordinary,” the president said, noting that “to heal, we must remember.”
-From The Associated Press and CBC News, last updated at 7 a.m. ET
What’s happening across Canada
WATCH LIVE | Ministers and public health officials address Canadians:
Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam, Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Howard Njoo are joined by cabinet ministers to give an update on COVID-19 in Canada. 0:00
As of 11:25 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Canada had reported 851,236 cases of COVID-19, with 30,895 cases considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths stood at 21,747.
Health officials in Ontario reported 975 new cases of COVID-19 and 12 additional deaths on Tuesday. Hospitalizations stood at 718, with 283 COVID-19 patients in intensive care units across the province.
Quebec reported 739 new cases of COVID-19 and 13 additional deaths on Tuesday. Hospitalizations in the province stood at 680, with 120 COVID-19 patients in ICUs.
The growing threat from COVID-19 variants has prompted the Manitoba government to tighten some of its pandemic-control guidelines. Instead of 15 minutes, people will be considered contacts of a case — and be required to undergo testing and self-isolation — if they have been in close range of an infection for 10 minutes.
The province, which has to date identified four travel-related cases of the B117 variant, is also ending an exemption that allowed some household members of a positive case to avoid self-isolation. Going forward, everyone in the same home as a positive case will have to self-isolate and get tested.
“We need to ensure we’re aggressively managing cases and contacts,” Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin said Monday as the province reported 97 new COVID-19 cases and two additional deaths.
In Atlantic Canada, there were no new cases of COVID-19 reported in Prince Edward Island on Tuesday.
Newfoundland and Labrador reported 14 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, including one in the Labrador-Grenfell Health Region. As of Monday, the province had 407 active cases and five COVID-19 patients in hospital.
“I am cautiously optimistic that we are making progress but we are by no means out of the woods,” said Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald.
Health officials in both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick reported one new case of COVID-19 on Monday.
Saskatchewan reported 177 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday. In neighouring Alberta, health officials reported 273 new cases of COVID-19 and 16 additional deaths.
In British Columbia, health officials reported 1,428 new COVID-19 cases over the past three days, for a total of 77,263 since the pandemic began. There have also been eight more deaths, bringing the number of fatalities linked to the novel coronavirus to 1,335 in B.C.
Across the North, there were 12 new cases of COVID-19 reported in the Nunavut community of Arviat on Monday. There were no new cases reported in the Northwest Territories or Yukon.
WATCH | Manitoba tightens health rules to curb growth of coronavirus variants:
Manitoba’s new definition of a close contact and revised isolation rules around COVID-19 are a good way to help get a very contagious infectious disease under control, says Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist and member of Ontario’s Vaccine Distribution Task Force. 2:47
Here’s a look at what else is happening across Canada:
-From The Canadian Press and CBC News, last updated at 11:30 a.m. ET
What’s happening around the world
Senegal’s Health Minister Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr gets vaccinated during the official launch of the vaccination campaign in Dakar on Thursday. (Seyllou/AFP/Getty Images)
As of early Tuesday morning, more than 111.7 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, with more than 63 million of those cases listed as resolved on a tracking site maintained by Johns Hopkins University. The global death toll stood at more than 2.4 million — with more than 500,000 of those deaths in the U.S. alone.
In Europe, new COVID-19 regulations took effect Tuesday in Poland that lift quarantine requirements for people entering the country who have certificates of having been inoculated against the virus with a European Union-approved vaccine.
Also, kindergarten children, elementary pupils and persons taking care of them, as well as researchers studying in Poland or in a neighbouring country, are exempt from the 10-day quarantine. The government regulations published Monday night also allow people to visit health spas if they test negative no more than six days before arrival.
The U.K. unemployment rate rose for a sixth straight month in December as renewed coronavirus restrictions shut down most businesses across the country. The Office for National Statistics said Tuesday that unemployment rose to 5.1 per cent in December, up 0.1 per cent from the previous month and 1.3 per cent from a year earlier. The number of people on company payrolls has dropped by 726,000 since the pandemic began last February, with 58.5 per cent of the decline coming among people under 25.
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, wearing a face covering, sits in front of a laptop computer as he takes part in an online lesson during his visit to Sedgehill School in southeast London on Tuesday. (Jack Hill/AFP/Getty Images)
The figures don’t show the full impact of COVID-19 restrictions on employment because some 1.9 million workers remain on furlough. A government program covers 80 per cent of their wages.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday announced plans to slowly end a national lockdown in England in hopes of safely reopening the economy and social life as infection rates drop and widespread vaccinations reduce the threat from COVID-19.
In the Asia-Pacific region, the Philippine president will reject recommendations to further ease coronavirus quarantine restrictions until a delayed vaccination campaign kicks off, his spokesperson said.
President Rodrigo Duterte also rejected a plan to resume face-to-face school classes in some pilot areas until vaccinations, which have been set back by delays in the arrival of initial batches of COVID-19 vaccine, have been launched, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said.
The scheduled delivery on Tuesday of 600,000 doses from Sinovac Biotech Ltd. was postponed anew after the China-based company failed to immediately secure an emergency-use permit from Manila’s Food and Drug Administration. Sinovac got the authorization Monday.
Top economic officials have asked Duterte to consider further easing quarantine restrictions starting in March to bolster the economy, which has suffered one of the worst recessions in the region, and stave off hunger. But Duterte rejected the recommendations.
A health worker checks inside a box containing mock COVID-19 vaccines during a mock vaccination drill at the Philippine General Hospital last week in Manila. (Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)
“The chief executive recognizes the importance of re-opening the economy and its impact on people’s livelihoods,” Roque said, but noted that the president “gives higher premium to public health and safety.”
The Philippines has reported more than 563,000 confirmed cases and more than 12,000 deaths, the second-highest in Southeast Asia.
In the Americas, Mexico has received its first shipment of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine.
Some 200,000 doses arrived to Mexico City’s international airport late Monday night aboard a British Airways flight from Moscow. Officials plan to use the doses to begin vaccinating seniors in the capital’s most marginalized boroughs on Wednesday.
Mexico received its first shipment of vaccines from Pfizer in mid-December, but turned to Sputnik V in January when other expected vaccine shipments were delayed. Sputnik too arrives later than initially expected. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin in late January. In early February, Mexican regulators gave Sputnik V emergency approval and the government signed a contract to bring 400,000 doses to Mexico.
A health-care worker applies a Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine on an elderly citizen in Sao Goncalo near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, last week. (Ricardo Moraes/Reuters)
Brazil has fully approved the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, its health regulator said on Tuesday, although a dispute over a supply deal means it has none to start an immunization program with.
It is the first coronavirus shot to receive full approval in Brazil, regulator Anvisa said. Vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd., have only been approved for emergency use.
The approval is good news for a country where the immunization campaign has been plagued by delays and political squabbling. However, it is unclear whether this will pave the way for a supply deal of a highly effective shot that is being rolled out globally.
“We hope to be able to move forward in our negotiations with the Brazilian government to support the immunization of the country’s population,” Pfizer’s Brazil boss Marta Diez said in a statement, without giving further details.
Brazil’s Health Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. President Jair Bolsonaro has criticized the terms of a deal proposed by Pfizer, saying it is overly onerous as it exempts the U.S. firm from potential liability for unforeseen problems. Pfizer has said other countries, including Brazil’s neighbors in Latin America, have agreed to those terms.
In the Middle East, Oman will not allow people from 10 countries to enter the country for 15 days to curb the spread of the coronavirus, in particular certain mutated strains.
In Africa, two of South Africa’s prime commercial property owners said this week they will extend rental relief to struggling tenants this year. South Africa is the hardest-hit country on the continent, with more than 1.5 million reported cases of COVID-19 and more than 49,000 deaths.
–From The Associated Press and Reuters, last update at 9:45 a.m. ET
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.
