Mar 02, 2021 • 8 hours ago • 6 minute read • 6 Comments
A healthcare worker draws a dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from a vial.Photo by Lindsey Wasson /Reuters
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The vaccines are coming. After a long wait, B.C. is gearing up for one of its largest mass immunization efforts in history.
On March 1, Premier John Horgan unveiled Phase 2 of the province’s COVID-19 rollout plan and announced that seniors over 80 and Indigenous people over 65 will start receiving their vaccinations on March 15.
Here’s what you need to know to get your jab.
Q: Who has been vaccinated so far?
A: Phase 1 of B.C.’s COVID-19 immunization rollout, which started late December, targeted front-line health-care providers and people living in long-term care and assisted living facilities.
As of Feb. 26, 252,373 doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been administered in the province, 73,808 of which were second doses.
The B.C. government has promised that approximately 4.3 million British Columbians over 18 will be vaccinated by September, equating to 8.6 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
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Q: How do I book an appointment?
A: As part of the Phase 2 rollout, seniors who are 90 and older and Indigenous people who are 65 and older will be able to book their vaccinations starting March 8, while seniors 85-89 can book starting March 15, and seniors 80-84 can book beginning March 22.
Booking information — including health authority contact details, complete call-in schedules, hours of operations and step-by-step instructions on how to call to book an appointment — will be available on March 8 at www.gov.bc.ca/bcseniorsfirst.
The government has promised that seniors would also be able to make one call to book their appointment through their health authority call centre.
Here is the contact list of regional health authority call centres, which will be open from 7 a.m. to 7p.m., seven days a week:
• Fraser Health: 1-855-755-2455 (Fraser Health also has online booking: Fraserhealth.ca/vaccinebookinginfo) • Interior Health: 1-877-740-7747 • Island Health: 1-833-348-4787 • Northern Health: 1-844-255-7555 • Vancouver Coastal Health: 1-877-587-5767
People will be given a list of local vaccination clinics to choose from and the call centre agent will confirm the appointment time and location.
People should only call in when they are eligible. Anyone who misses their age-based dates can still call, book and be vaccinated at any time after they become eligible.
Q: What information will I need to provide to call centre?
A: The call centre will ask for: • Legal name; • date of birth; • postal code; • personal health number (PHN) from the back of B.C. driver’s licences or BC services cards; • current contact information, including an email address or phone number to receive texts.
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To avoid fraud, the province is warning people that the health authority will never ask people for their social insurance number, driver’s license number or banking and credit card details.
Q: When can I get vaccinated?
A: Vaccination for the general population is expected to take place from April until September 2021. The vaccines will be administered by age in five-year increments, starting with people aged 75 to 79.
British Columbians will register and book their appointments to receive their first and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine through an online registration tool. The province has not yet revealed details or a website for the online registration system.
The provincial government provided this estimate of when appointment slots would open for various age ranges:
Phase 3:
• people 75 to 79: First shot April; second shot May • people 70-74: First shot April; second shot May • people 65-69: First shot May or June; second shot June or July • people 60-64: First shot June; second shot July • clinically vulnerable people 16-69: first and second shots between April and June
Phase 4:
• people 40-59: First shot July; second shot August • people 35-39: First shot July; second shot August • people 30-34: First shot July; second shot August • people 25-29: First shot July or August; second shot August or September • people 18-24: First shot August; second shot September
Q: What if I’m a front-line worker, am immunocompromised or have other serious health conditions? Can I get the vaccine earlier?
A: The province had said that once additional vaccines are approved by Health Canada and become available, front-line essential workers or workers who belong to specific industries may be included in the later part of Phase 3 or 4. Chances got better last week after Canada approved the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. It has secured 22 million doses, which are expected to arrive between April and September.
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A: Vaccination clinics will be set up in gyms, arenas, convention halls, and community halls. Residents of rural communities may be able to access mobile clinics, which can also provide vaccinations to people who are homebound with mobility challenges.
Vaccines are not expected to be administered at doctors’ offices.
Q: What do I need to bring to my appointment?
A: Make sure you wear mask, bring your Personal Health Number (if you have one) and wear loose fitting clothing. The intramuscular injection will be made into the arm, close to the shoulder.
It is recommended to arrive a few minutes before your appointment time. After checking in, you will get your vaccine dose then have to wait in an observation area for 15 minutes.
Q: Will I be given a record of my vaccination?
A: Most people will receive an immunization card that they’ll need to bring with them when they get their second shot.
You’ll also have an option to receive a digital copy of your immunization record that will be available on the province’s Health Gateway site, which you can register for by using the BC Services Card app on your phone.
Health Gateway is available to anyone 12 and older with a BC Services Card.
Q: When do I get my second dose?
The province has extended the timeline between the first and second dose to 16 weeks or 112 days. The vaccine manufacturers recommended a timeline of 21 to 28 days between doses, but the B.C. Centre for Disease Control says “extending the time between first and second doses does not reduce vaccine protection over the long term and for most vaccines, a slightly longer interval is better.”
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After you get your first dose, you will be notified by email, text or phone when you are eligible to book an appointment for the second dose.
Q: What vaccines are available? What are the side effects and how effective are they?
A: Canada has approved three vaccines: The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the Moderna vaccine, and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
Possible side effects include redness or pain at the injection site, fever, chills, or fatigue.
Pfizer and Moderna say their vaccines provide a 94 to 95 per cent immunity when two doses are administered.
The AstraZeneca vaccine has a lower efficacy rate at 62 per cent, but is 100 per cent effective in preventing serious cases of COVID-19, hospitalizations and death.
Q: Is it mandatory to be vaccinated against COVID-19?
The vaccine is not mandatory, but it is highly recommended by health officials. The provincial government says everyone who would like a vaccine and who is eligible to receive it will have the opportunity to be vaccinated.
The COVID-19 vaccine is free for everyone living in B.C. who is eligible to receive it.
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Divisions within the Bank of Canada over the timing of a much-anticipated cut to its key overnight interest rate stem from concerns of some members of the central bank’s governing council that progress on taming inflation could stall in the face of stronger domestic demand — or even pick up again in the event of “new surprises.”
“Some members emphasized that, with the economy performing well, the risk had diminished that restrictive monetary policy would slow the economy more than necessary to return inflation to target,” according to a summary of deliberations for the April 10 rate decision that were published Wednesday. “They felt more reassurance was needed to reduce the risk that the downward progress on core inflation would stall, and to avoid jeopardizing the progress made thus far.”
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Others argued that there were additional risks from keeping monetary policy too tight in light of progress already made to tame inflation, which had come down “significantly” across most goods and services.
Some pointed out that the distribution of inflation rates across components of the consumer price index had approached normal, despite outsized price increases and decreases in certain components.
“Coupled with indicators that the economy was in excess supply and with a base case projection showing the output gap starting to close only next year, they felt there was a risk of keeping monetary policy more restrictive than needed.”
In the end, though, the central bankers agreed to hold the rate at five per cent because inflation remained too high and there were still upside risks to the outlook, albeit “less acute” than in the past couple of years.
Despite the “diversity of views” about when conditions will warrant cutting the interest rate, central bank officials agreed that monetary policy easing would probably be gradual, given risks to the outlook and the slow path for returning inflation to target, according to the summary of deliberations.
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They considered a number of potential risks to the outlook for economic growth and inflation, including housing and immigration, according to summary of deliberations.
The central bankers discussed the risk that housing market activity could accelerate and further boost shelter prices and acknowledged that easing monetary policy could increase the likelihood of this risk materializing. They concluded that their focus on measures such as CPI-trim, which strips out extreme movements in price changes, allowed them to effectively look through mortgage interest costs while capturing other shelter prices such as rent that are more reflective of supply and demand in housing.
They also agreed to keep a close eye on immigration in the coming quarters due to uncertainty around recent announcements by the federal government.
“The projection incorporated continued strong population growth in the first half of 2024 followed by much softer growth, in line with the federal government’s target for reducing the share of non-permanent residents,” the summary said. “But details of how these plans will be implemented had not been announced. Governing council recognized that there was some uncertainty about future population growth and agreed it would be important to update the population forecast each quarter.”
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Shares in US tech giant Meta have sunk in US after-hours trading despite better-than-expected earnings.
The Facebook and Instagram owner said expenses would be higher this year as it spends heavily on artificial intelligence (AI).
Its shares fell more than 15% after it said it expected to spend billions of dollars more than it had previously predicted in 2024.
Meta has been updating its ad-buying products with AI tools to boost earnings growth.
It has also been introducing more AI features on its social media platforms such as chat assistants.
The firm said it now expected to spend between $35bn and $40bn, (£28bn-32bn) in 2024, up from an earlier prediction of $30-$37bn.
Its shares fell despite it beating expectations on its earnings.
First quarter revenue rose 27% to $36.46bn, while analysts had expected earnings of $36.16bn.
Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said its spending plans were “aggressive”.
She said Meta’s “substantial investment” in AI has helped it get people to spend time on its platforms, so advertisers are willing to spend more money “in a time when digital advertising uncertainty remains rife”.
More than 50 countries are due to have elections this year, she said, “which hugely increases uncertainty” and can spook advertisers.
She added that Meta’s “fortunes are probably also being bolstered by TikTok’s uncertain future in the US”.
Meta’s rival has said it will fight an “unconstitutional” law that could result in TikTok being sold or banned in the US.
President Biden has signed into law a bill which gives the social media platform’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, nine months to sell off the app or it will be blocked in the US.
Ms Lund-Yates said that “looking further ahead, the biggest risk [for Meta] remains regulatory”.
Last year, Meta was fined €1.2bn (£1bn) by Ireland’s data authorities for mishandling people’s data when transferring it between Europe and the US.
And in February of this year, Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg faced blistering criticism from US lawmakers and was pushed to apologise to families of victims of child sexual exploitation.
Ms Lund-Yates added that the firm has “more than enough resources to throw at legal challenges, but that doesn’t rule out the risks of ups and downs in market sentiment”.
Oil companies planning to ship crude on the expanded Trans Mountain pipeline in Canada are concerned that the project may not begin full service on May 1 but they would be nevertheless obligated to pay tolls from that date.
In a letter to the Canada Energy Regulator (CER), Suncor Energy and other shippers including BP and Marathon Petroleum have expressed doubts that Trans Mountain will start full service on May 1, as previously communicated, Reuters reports.
Trans Mountain Corporation, the government-owned entity that completed the pipeline construction, told Reuters in an email that line fill on the expanded pipeline would be completed in early May.
After a series of delays, cost overruns, and legal challenges, the expanded Trans Mountain oil pipeline will open for business on May 1, the company said early this month.
“The Commencement Date for commercial operation of the expanded system will be May 1, 2024. Trans Mountain anticipates providing service for all contracted volumes in the month of May,” Trans Mountain Corporation said in early April.
The expanded pipeline will triple the capacity of the original pipeline to 890,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 300,000 bpd to carry crude from Alberta’s oil sands to British Columbia on the Pacific Coast.
The Federal Government of Canada bought the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion (TMX) from Kinder Morgan back in 2018, together with related pipeline and terminal assets. That cost the federal government $3.3 billion (C$4.5 billion) at the time. Since then, the costs for the expansion of the pipeline have quadrupled to nearly $23 billion (C$30.9 billion).
The expansion project has faced continuous delays over the years. In one of the latest roadblocks in December, the Canadian regulator denied a variance request from the project developer to move a small section of the pipeline due to challenging drilling conditions.
The company asked the regulator to reconsider its decision, and received on January 12 a conditional approval, avoiding what could have been another two-year delay to start-up.
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