TORONTO —
Pfizer expects Canada will be able to extract six doses of its COVID-19 vaccine from vials instead of five, a difference that has caused confusion among provinces and prompted speculation about Canada’s rollout timeline.
Health Canada is reviewing a formal request to change the label on the Pfizer BioNTech vaccines to reflect a sixth dose and is looking into whether Canada will be able to make the precise extractions.
The problem comes down to a limited supply of special syringes needed to more easily extract the sixth dose. Canada has only so many 1-millilitre, or 1cc, syringes, which are in high demand globally. Two million syringes of a recent order for 37.5 million are due to arrive in Canada on Feb. 4.
Health officials have repeatedly said that they believe Pfizer will meet its March deadline to deliver four million vaccines to Canada. However, on Thursday, officials acknowledged that Pfizer made those calculations based on the assumption that each vial had six doses, not five.
Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, who is overseeing Canada’s vaccine rollout, said Pfizer will increase the number of vials it sends to meet the March deadline in the event that Canada doesn’t agree to change the labels.
“They have assured us four million by the end of March,” Fortin said at a press conference on Thursday.
But a planning document sent to the provinces on Thursday morning still used the five-dose formula, which led some to believe that they could miss out on up to 500,000 doses in the coming months.
“What we have shared with provinces is a conservative figure of five doses per vial until it changes, until authorized — if it gets authorized,” Fortin said.
Provinces expressed their frustration with the situation, with Alberta’s health minister accusing the government of “failing Canadians” and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe blaming Ottawa of not sharing “accurate information.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford also expressed his disappointment with Pfzier, but did not lay blame on the federal government.
“Pfizer has let us down tremendously. It’s, again, unacceptable,” Ford said. “I know the federal government is trying and they’re doing everything we can. We need to explore every avenue possible.”
Retired Gen. Rick Hillier, who is in charge of Ontario’s vaccine rollout, acknowledged how challenging it can be to extract a sixth vaccine from a vial, saying it’s become “almost a competition” for those administering the vaccines.
“They succeed sometimes. In some batches up to 80 per cent of the time. In some batches, not at all,” Hillier said.
Pharmacists and health care workers on the frontlines have known about the possibility of getting a sixth dose for a while, and having a 1-millilitre syringe makes all the difference, Hillier said — but they’re far from guaranteed.
“Every time we get (a sixth dose) it’s a win, it’s a victory, and allows us to put another needle into another arm,” Hillier said.
When it comes to adjusting vaccine labels to officially add a sixth dose, CTV Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Abdu Sharkawy said Canada needs to be careful not to give in to pressure from Pfizer.
“The reality is it is difficult to administer these vaccines with the finest of precision and it really comes down to something called dead volume,” Sharkawy told CTV’s Power Play.
If someone is using a larger 3-millilitre, or 3cc, syringe — which is far more common in Canada — Sharkawy said it requires a level of skill to extract the sixth dose.
“I think it’s just too problematic to suggest that a) we’re going to be able to procure enough of these 1cc syringes that are now a hot commodity, and to be able to ensure that we’re able to extract that extra dose with the existing conventional syringes that we have right now,” he said.
Because of those problems, Sharkawy said he’d be surprised if Health Canada approved the label change to include a sixth dose.
“I think we have to stand our ground and ensure that there is no vaccine wastage and that there’s no more confusion going forward.”
Doctors in the U.S. were the first in the world to realize that six doses could be taken from each vial if they used 1-millilitre syringes, although they are less common than the three- and five-millilitre syringes mostly used in Canada’s vaccine campaign now.
Liberal MP Steve MacKinnon, who serves as parliamentary secretary to the minister of public services and procurement, denied any “blame game” going on between Ottawa and the provinces. Instead, he said Canada finds itself in a global race for vaccines at a time when Pfizer is experiencing a temporary production delay due to adjustments at its factory in Belgium.
“Every single day we are communicating with the provinces, we’re supplying them with the best available data. But we are also saying this is a very dynamic situation,” MacKinnon told CTV’s Power Play.
This comes as Canada is expected to receive zero new vaccine shipments this week and reduced supply in the weeks that follow. Federal officials continue to assert that Canada remains on track to have enough vaccines for every Canadian by the end of September.
But a new forecast from the Economist Intelligence Unit projects that Canada won’t see widespread vaccinations until mid-2022, several months after the U.S. and European Union. Instead, the report suggests, Canada’s completed vaccine rollout will be more in line with countries such as Australia and Japan.
MONTREAL – Travel company Transat AT Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year earlier as its revenue edged lower.
The parent company of Air Transat says it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31.
The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue in what was the company’s third quarter totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
Transat chief executive Annick Guérard says demand for leisure travel remains healthy, as evidenced by higher traffic, but consumers are increasingly price conscious given the current economic uncertainty.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Dollarama Inc.’s food aisles may have expanded far beyond sweet treats or piles of gum by the checkout counter in recent years, but its chief executive maintains his company is “not in the grocery business,” even if it’s keeping an eye on the sector.
“It’s just one small part of our store,” Neil Rossy told analysts on a Wednesday call, where he was questioned about the company’s food merchandise and rivals playing in the same space.
“We will keep an eye on all retailers — like all retailers keep an eye on us — to make sure that we’re competitive and we understand what’s out there.”
Over the last decade and as consumers have more recently sought deals, Dollarama’s food merchandise has expanded to include bread and pantry staples like cereal, rice and pasta sold at prices on par or below supermarkets.
However, the competition in the discount segment of the market Dollarama operates in intensified recently when the country’s biggest grocery chain began piloting a new ultra-discount store.
The No Name stores being tested by Loblaw Cos. Ltd. in Windsor, St. Catharines and Brockville, Ont., are billed as 20 per cent cheaper than discount retail competitors including No Frills. The grocery giant is able to offer such cost savings by relying on a smaller store footprint, fewer chilled products and a hearty range of No Name merchandise.
Though Rossy brushed off notions that his company is a supermarket challenger, grocers aren’t off his radar.
“All retailers in Canada are realistic about the fact that everyone is everyone’s competition on any given item or category,” he said.
Rossy declined to reveal how much of the chain’s sales would overlap with Loblaw or the food category, arguing the vast variety of items Dollarama sells is its strength rather than its grocery products alone.
“What makes Dollarama Dollarama is a very wide assortment of different departments that somewhat represent the old five-and-dime local convenience store,” he said.
The breadth of Dollarama’s offerings helped carry the company to a second-quarter profit of $285.9 million, up from $245.8 million in the same quarter last year as its sales rose 7.4 per cent.
The retailer said Wednesday the profit amounted to $1.02 per diluted share for the 13-week period ended July 28, up from 86 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
The period the quarter covers includes the start of summer, when Rossy said the weather was “terrible.”
“The weather got slightly better towards the end of the summer and our sales certainly increased, but not enough to make up for the season’s horrible start,” he said.
Sales totalled $1.56 billion for the quarter, up from $1.46 billion in the same quarter last year.
Comparable store sales, a key metric for retailers, increased 4.7 per cent, while the average transaction was down2.2 per cent and traffic was up seven per cent, RBC analyst Irene Nattel pointed out.
She told investors in a note that the numbers reflect “solid demand as cautious consumers focus on core consumables and everyday essentials.”
Analysts have attributed such behaviour to interest rates that have been slow to drop and high prices of key consumer goods, which are weighing on household budgets.
To cope, many Canadians have spent more time seeking deals, trading down to more affordable brands and forgoing small luxuries they would treat themselves to in better economic times.
“When people feel squeezed, they tend to shy away from discretionary, focus on the basics,” Rossy said. “When people are feeling good about their wallet, they tend to be more lax about the basics and more willing to spend on discretionary.”
The current economic situation has drawn in not just the average Canadian looking to save a buck or two, but also wealthier consumers.
“When the entire economy is feeling slightly squeezed, we get more consumers who might not have to or want to shop at a Dollarama generally or who enjoy shopping at a Dollarama but have the luxury of not having to worry about the price in some other store that they happen to be standing in that has those goods,” Rossy said.
“Well, when times are tougher, they’ll consider the extra five minutes to go to the store next door.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
TORONTO – The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered TD Bank Group to pay US$28 million for repeatedly sharing inaccurate, negative information about its customers to consumer reporting companies.
The agency says TD has to pay US$7.76 million in total to tens of thousands of victims of its illegal actions, along with a US$20 million civil penalty.
It says TD shared information that contained systemic errors about credit card and bank deposit accounts to consumer reporting companies, which can include credit reports as well as screening reports for tenants and employees and other background checks.
CFPB director Rohit Chopra says in a statement that TD threatened the consumer reports of customers with fraudulent information then “barely lifted a finger to fix it,” and that regulators will need to “focus major attention” on TD Bank to change its course.
TD says in a statement it self-identified these issues and proactively worked to improve its practices, and that it is committed to delivering on its responsibilities to its customers.
The bank also faces scrutiny in the U.S. over its anti-money laundering program where it expects to pay more than US$3 billion in monetary penalties to resolve.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
