Even as Canadians contend with a sixth wave of COVID-19 infections, children under the age of five remain the only age group in Canada without access to vaccines designed to protect against the virus.
As of April 27, Health Canada has not received applications from any vaccine manufacturers requesting authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine for children under the age of five. However, Moderna says it is currently working on a submission to Health Canada for approval.
The lack of vaccines, combined with high levels of community transmission, may leave some parents concerned about their youngest children being exposed to infection.
Dr. Martha Fulford is an infectious disease expert and chief of medicine at the McMaster University Medical Centre in Hamilton, Ont. She said that until a vaccine has been proven to provide the youngest children with significant protective benefits, there’s no reason to rush the process.
“You can’t vaccinate a zero to four-year-old until you have a vaccine that actually does something for the child, and where the benefit has been shown to outweigh any potential risk,” Fulford told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview on April 25. “Eventually, I think we’ll have one, but it shouldn’t be rushed.”
Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE are currently in the process of manufacturing a vaccine for children under the age of five, while Moderna Inc. is working on developing its own version of this vaccine for children under the age of six. Early data published so far is limited to press releases shared by the pharmaceutical companies.
In Pfizer-BioNTech’s case, an ongoing clinical study is evaluating the efficacy of vaccines for children between six months and four years of age. After two doses, the company saw that the vaccine did not meet its criteria for immunogenicity, said Dr. Dina Kulik, a pediatric emergency doctor based in Toronto. This means the vaccine was unable to elicit an effective antibody response among those involved in the study, she said. What the company has decided to do instead is extend its trial to include a third dose. Pfizer is expected to release this data in May, before it is evaluated by the United States Food and Drug Administration.
“It wasn’t approved because it wasn’t effective, quite frankly,” Kulik told CTVNews.ca on April 21 in a phone interview. “It didn’t do what it’s meant to do, so why would we give any vaccine … if you’re not going to see benefit?”
While it may have been disappointing to see that two doses of the vaccine were not as effective among children under the age of five as they initially were in adolescents or adults, it’s typical for vaccine products manufactured for children to face delays and enter the market later than products created for adults, said Dr. Jesse Papenburg, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the Montreal Children’s Hospital.
“We’ve all been so accustomed to such rapid success in terms of the randomized control trial data showing tremendous efficacy for adults so quickly,” he told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview on April 26. “It’s really not unusual for vaccine development for children [to] take longer in terms of having those studies and really trying to find the lowest dose possible that elicits a protective immune response.”
Data released by Moderna is based on a study involving children from six months to five years of age, with results separated between two age groups – those who are six months and one year old, and those between the ages of two and five. Results show that two doses of the vaccine had an efficacy of 43.7 and 37.5 per cent across both groups, respectively. The company recently submitted an application to the U.S. FDA for authorization of its vaccine.
Both pharmaceutical companies are expected to submit their applications to the FDA for approval before submitting to Health Canada, Papenburg said, though it’s likely Canada could see these requests for authorization within days or weeks of being filed in the U.S. The goal of this review is to determine that the products work and are safe to use, he said.
“These companies prioritize the U.S. market because FDA approval does carry some weight internationally,” he said. “I would expect Health Canada to receive submissions, if not by the end of May, then by sometime in June … based on the information that the FDA has provided with their anticipated timelines.”
However, looking at the data that’s currently available on efficacy of these vaccines, Fulford said she isn’t entirely convinced that they will offer a strong benefit to children under five. More data is needed to assess how much these vaccines will decrease the burden of COVID-19 among children in this age group, and how safe they will be before doctors are able to make recommendations on their use, she said.
“To me, there’s just more questions than answers at this point,” said Fulford. “You have to have a really compelling case that there’s going to be a significant benefit to doing this.”
‘HIGHER BAR’ FOR VACCINE EFFICACY IN CHILDREN
According to Fulford, the bar for developing and approving vaccines for children is much different than it is for adults. This stems from evidence that children tend to be at lower risk of bad outcomes from COVID-19 infection, she said. Studies have shown that the risk of severe illness from contracting the virus increases with age.
“Kids have a much higher bar in terms of effectiveness of vaccines … and you have to be darn sure you’ve discussed the adverse outcomes,” she said. “When you have the lowest-risk group of people for [severe] outcomes from the disease, you have to have the highest safety bar.”
Papenburg echoed this sentiment, adding that the goal is for manufacturers to produce vaccines with the smallest dosage possible.
“The idea of using the lowest possible dose really stems, in part, from a desire to have as safe a product as possible, considering that the disease we’re preventing in pediatrics is less deadly than it is in adults,” Papenburg said. “We do hold vaccines to a little bit of a higher standard when it comes to safety in children.”
In the pediatric patients she’s seeing at the moment, Kulik said common symptoms such as fever, sore throat, fatigue and body aches continue to surface. But with the Omicron BA.2 sub-variant in particular, she said she’s also noticing less respiratory distress and more vomiting and diarrhea, as well as rashes often mistaken for hand, foot and mouth disease.
“This particular strain seems to be causing more discomfort from what I’m seeing professionally,” she said. “It’s uncomfortable, but it’s not causing severe illness … By and large, kids are doing well but they do feel very crummy.”
The fifth wave likely saw the largest number of hospitalizations among children under the age of five in Canada, Papenburg said. As Canadians continue to navigate a sixth wave, hospitalizations among this age group continue to be reported, but not in such large quantities, he said.
According to data collected by Public Health Ontario as of April 25, the number of children aged zero to four who were hospitalized over the two weeks prior was 47 out of a total population of about 723,000. As of April 26, Quebec health authorities reported just seven hospitalization among children within the same age group. These figures are quite low compared to hospital admission rates for some of Canada’s older populations, Fulford said.
As a result, it’s crucial to determine a clear goal for vaccines in children, Fulford said. Based on the vaccine program that has been rolled out in Canada so far, the goal has largely been to prevent severe outcomes as a result of COVID-19 infection, she said. But when dealing with an age group that is already at lower risk of these outcomes, particularly when compared to older populations, this means it is important to also weigh the risks and benefits associated with getting vaccinated for each individual child, Fulford said. This includes taking into consideration existing comorbidities such as obesity or diabetes, which tend to result in higher risk of developing severe outcomes as a result of infection.
“The kids who are at risk kind of know who they are,” she said. “They’re the kids who were at risk before being infected with COVID-19.”
WHAT CAN BE DONE TO MITIGATE RISK IN KIDS?
In addition to awaiting COVID-19 vaccine approval for children ages four and below, it remains to be seen what the guidance will be surrounding its use, Fulford said.
“Approving something is not the same as saying, ‘Everybody should get it now,’” she said.
Once approved, immunization advisory committees are expected to put vaccine efficacy results into broader context, factoring in the disease burden facing the population, as well as relevant risk-benefit analyses to produce recommendations on the use of these vaccines.
“Is it possible that both [vaccines] will be recommended with the same strength, or would there be preferential recommendation for one product over another?” Papenburg said. “That’s what [the National Advisory Committee on Immunization] will look at, in the framework of equity ethics, acceptability and feasibility.”
Another important question that remains to be answered is what the potential benefit of COVID-19 vaccination would be in young children who have already been infected, Fulford said. One study conducted during the Alpha and Delta waves in England shows that reinfection rates appear to be lower among children than adults, for example, but more recent data on the topic remains limited. In the United States, recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that nearly three quarters of children across the country have previously been infected with COVID-19.
Omicron continues to be the predominant variant in circulation in Canada. While Omicron infections appear to be milder in children, they are not trivial, Papenburg said. If a high number of children become infected with the virus, this also increases the chances that a greater proportion of these children could develop severe outcomes after infection, said Kulik.
Children attending school or daycare are especially at risk of contracting the disease due to high levels of interaction with others, often in settings where mask mandates are not in effect, she said.
“The vast majority of kids and adults do well with COVID, [with] a pretty mild, flu-like illness,” she said. “But if you have enough people that get COVID, you’re going to have enough people that get very sick with COVID, kids included. It’s really just a numbers game.”
While no vaccines are currently available for children under the age of five in Canada, efforts can still be taken to limit the chances of these children contracting COVID-19, Papenburg said. This includes limiting social contact with others, and for those aged two and older, wearing a mask indoors if possible, especially when physical distancing is not an option. Mitigating risk also involves avoiding crowded spaces, close contact and poor air circulation, Fulford said.
“Everything that we’ve told people they can do to help reduce risks [of contracting COVID-19], these things are still applicable today,” said Papenburg.
Fulford also encourages parents with young children to assess the potential risk and benefits of going forward with any activity when it comes to developing a COVID-19 infection. There may be circumstances where risks exist, such as when a child attends school or participates in extra curricular activities with other children, but any associated benefits might outweigh those risks, she said.
“Risk-benefit isn’t COVID versus no COVID – it’s total harm minimization in every aspect of what might affect a child’s life,” Fulford said. “It’s a balancing act for every family.”
——-
What questions do you have about Omicron?
With the emergence of a new COVID-19 variant of concern, labelled Omicron, CTVNews.ca wants to hear from Canadians with any questions.
Tell us what you’d like to know when it comes to the Omicron COVID-19 variant.
To submit your question, email us at dotcom@bellmedia.ca with your name, location and question. Your comments may be used in a CTVNews.ca story.
“Communication is one of the most important skills you require for a successful life.” — Catherine Pulsifer, author.
I’m one hundred percent in agreement with Pulsifer, which is why my evaluation of candidates begins with their writing skills. If a candidate’s writing skills and verbal communication skills, which I’ll assess when interviewing, aren’t well above average, I’ll pass on them regardless of their skills and experience.
Why?
Because business is fundamentally about getting other people to do things—getting employees to be productive, getting customers to buy your products or services, and getting vendors to agree to a counteroffer price. In business, as in life in general, you can’t make anything happen without effective communication; this is especially true when job searching when your writing is often an employer’s first impression of you.
Think of all the writing you engage in during a job search (resumes, cover letters, emails, texts) and all your other writing (LinkedIn profile, as well as posts and comments, blogs, articles, tweets, etc.) employers will read when they Google you to determine if you’re interview-worthy.
With so much of our communication today taking place via writing (email, text, collaboration platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, ClickUp, WhatsApp and Rocket.Chat), the importance of proficient writing skills can’t be overstated.
When assessing a candidate’s writing skills, you probably think I’m looking for grammar and spelling errors. Although error-free writing is important—it shows professionalism and attention to detail—it’s not the primary reason I look at a candidate’s writing skills.
The way someone writes reveals how they think.
Clear writing = Clear thinking
Structured paragraphs = Structured mind
Impactful sentences = Impactful ideas
Effective writing isn’t about using sophisticated vocabulary. Hemingway demonstrated that deceptively simple, stripped-down prose can captivate readers. Effective writing takes intricate thoughts and presents them in a way that makes the reader think, “Damn! Why didn’t I see it that way?” A good writer is a dead giveaway for a good thinker. More than ever, the business world needs “good thinkers.”
Therefore, when I come across a candidate who’s a good writer, hence a good thinker, I know they’re likely to be able to write:
Emails that don’t get deleted immediately and are responded to
Simple, concise, and unambiguous instructions
Pitches that are likely to get read
Social media content that stops thumbs
Human-sounding website copy
Persuasively, while attuned to the reader’s possible sensitivities
Now, let’s talk about the elephant in the room: AI, which job seekers are using en masse. Earlier this year, I wrote that AI’s ability to hyper-increase an employee’s productivity—AI is still in its infancy; we’ve seen nothing yet—in certain professions, such as writing, sales and marketing, computer programming, office and admin, and customer service, makes it a “fewer employees needed” tool, which understandably greatly appeals to employers. In my opinion, the recent layoffs aren’t related to the economy; they’re due to employers adopting AI. Additionally, companies are trying to balance investing in AI with cost-cutting measures. CEOs who’ve previously said, “Our people are everything,” have arguably created today’s job market by obsessively focusing on AI to gain competitive advantages and reduce their largest expense, their payroll.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that most AI usage involves generating written content, content that’s obvious to me, and likely to you as well, to have been written by AI. However, here’s the twist: I don’t particularly care.
Why?
Because the fundamental skill I’m looking for is the ability to organize thoughts and communicate effectively. What I care about is whether the candidate can take AI-generated content and transform it into something uniquely valuable. If they can, they’re demonstrating the skills of being a good thinker and communicator. It’s like being a great DJ; anyone can push play, but it takes skill to read a room and mix music that gets people pumped.
Using AI requires prompting effectively, which requires good writing skills to write clear and precise instructions that guide the AI to produce desired outcomes. Prompting AI effectively requires understanding structure, flow and impact. You need to know how to shape raw information, such as milestones throughout your career when you achieved quantitative results, into a compelling narrative.
So, what’s the best way to gain and enhance your writing skills? As with any skill, you’ve got to work at it.
Two rules guide my writing:
Use strong verbs and nouns instead of relying on adverbs, such as “She dashed to the store.” instead of “She ran quickly to the store.” or “He whispered to the child.” instead of “He spoke softly to the child.”
Avoid using long words when a shorter one will do, such as “use” instead of “utilize” or “ask” instead of “inquire.” As attention spans get shorter, I aim for clarity, simplicity and, most importantly, brevity in my writing.
Don’t just string words together; learn to organize your thoughts, think critically, and communicate clearly. Solid writing skills will significantly set you apart from your competition, giving you an advantage in your job search and career.
Nick Kossovan, a well-seasoned veteran of the corporate landscape, offers “unsweetened” job search advice. You can send Nick your questions to artoffindingwork@gmail.com.
MONTREAL – Politics, public opinion and salary hikes south of the border helped push Air Canada toward a deal that secures major pay gains for pilots, experts say.
Hammered out over the weekend, the would-be agreement includes a cumulative wage hike of nearly 42 per cent over four years — an enormous bump by historical standards — according to one source who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. The previous 10-year contract granted increases of just two per cent annually.
The federal government’s stated unwillingness to step in paved the way for a deal, noted John Gradek, after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made it plain the two sides should hash one out themselves.
“Public opinion basically pressed the federal cabinet, including the prime minister, to keep their hands clear of negotiations and looking at imposing a settlement,” said Gradek, who teaches aviation management at McGill University.
After late-night talks at a hotel near Toronto’s Pearson airport, the country’s biggest airline and the union representing 5,200-plus aviators announced early Sunday morning they had reached a tentative agreement, averting a strike that would have grounded flights and affected some 110,000 passengers daily.
The relative precariousness of the Liberal minority government as well as a push to appear more pro-labour underlay the prime minister’s hands-off approach to the negotiations.
Trudeau said Friday the government would not step in to fix the impasse — unlike during a massive railway work stoppage last month and a strike by WestJet mechanics over the Canada Day long weekend that workers claimed road roughshod over their constitutional right to collective bargaining. Trudeau said the government respects the right to strike and would only intervene if it became apparent no negotiated deal was possible.
“They felt that they really didn’t want to try for a third attempt at intervention and basically said, ‘Let’s let the airline decide how they want to deal with this one,'” said Gradek.
“Air Canada ran out of support as the week wore on, and by the time they got to Friday night, Saturday morning, there was nothing left for them to do but to basically try to get a deal set up and accepted by ALPA (Air Line Pilots Association).”
Trudeau’s government was also unlikely to consider back-to-work legislation after the NDP tore up its agreement to support the Liberal minority in Parliament, Gradek said. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, whose party has traditionally toed a more pro-business line, also said last week that Tories “stand with the pilots” and swore off “pre-empting” the negotiations.
Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau had asked Ottawa on Thursday to impose binding arbitration pre-emptively — “before any travel disruption starts” — if talks failed. Backed by business leaders, he’d hoped for an effective repeat of the Conservatives’ move to head off a strike in 2012 by legislating Air Canada pilots and ground crew to stick to their posts before any work stoppage could start.
The request may have fallen flat, however. Gradek said he believes there was less anxiety over the fallout from an airline strike than from the countrywide railway shutdown.
He also speculated that public frustration over thousands of cancelled flights would have flowed toward Air Canada rather than Ottawa, prompting the carrier to concede to a deal yielding “unheard of” gains for employees.
“It really was a total collapse of the Air Canada bargaining position,” he said.
Pilots are slated to vote in the coming weeks on the four-year contract.
Last year, pilots at Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines secured agreements that included four-year pay boosts ranging from 34 per cent to 40 per cent, ramping up pressure on other carriers to raise wages.
After more than a year of bargaining, Air Canada put forward an offer in August centred around a 30 per cent wage hike over four years.
But the final deal, should union members approve it, grants a 26 per cent increase in the first year alone, retroactive to September 2023, according to the source. Three wage bumps of four per cent would follow in 2024 through 2026.
Passengers may wind up shouldering some of that financial load, one expert noted.
“At the end of the day, it’s all us consumers who are paying,” said Barry Prentice, who heads the University of Manitoba’s transport institute.
Higher fares may be mitigated by the persistence of budget carrier Flair Airlines and the rapid expansion of Porter Airlines — a growing Air Canada rival — as well as waning demand for leisure trips. Corporate travel also remains below pre-COVID-19 levels.
Air Canada said Sunday the tentative contract “recognizes the contributions and professionalism of Air Canada’s pilot group, while providing a framework for the future growth of the airline.”
The union issued a statement saying that, if ratified, the agreement will generate about $1.9 billion of additional value for Air Canada pilots over the course of the deal.
Meanwhile, labour tension with cabin crew looms on the horizon. Air Canada is poised to kick off negotiations with the union representing more than 10,000 flight attendants this year before the contract expires on March 31.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
HALIFAX – Ottawa is negotiating a $500-million bailout for Nova Scotia’s privately owned electric utility, saying the money will be used to prevent a big spike in electricity rates.
Federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson made the announcement today in Halifax, saying Nova Scotia Power Inc. needs the money to cover higher costs resulting from the delayed delivery of electricity from the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric plant in Labrador.
Wilkinson says that without the money, the subsidiary of Emera Inc. would have had to increase rates by 19 per cent over “the short term.”
Nova Scotia Power CEO Peter Gregg says the deal, once approved by the province’s energy regulator, will keep rate increases limited “to be around the rate of inflation,” as costs are spread over a number of years.
The utility helped pay for construction of an underwater transmission link between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, but the Muskrat Falls project has not been consistent in delivering electricity over the past five years.
Those delays forced Nova Scotia Power to spend more on generating its own electricity.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
