Canadians wondering about the safety of the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine — after some countries paused distribution amid reports of blood clots — should keep in mind there’s no indication the vaccine caused those clots, say experts, and that there are regulatory safeguards in place.
Authorities in Denmark, Iceland, Norway and other European countries suspended their use of the shot following reports of blood clots in some people who were vaccinated. European regulators are investigating.
Many other countries, including Germany, France, Poland, Nigeria, the United Kingdom and Canada, continue to use the vaccine, citing a lack of any evidence of a link.
Danielle Kaplan, 60, is on the waiting list for the vaccine in Toronto. She wants to receive it but is also looking for some reassurance.
“It just makes me feel a little insecure and I would like this clarified,” Kaplan said.
Here’s some nuance and context on the clotting investigation:
What’s the first priority?
Step one is to look for any possibility of a cause-and-effect relationship between receiving the vaccine and an adverse event or medical complication.
Bad outcomes can sometimeshappen after someone receives a vaccine. But that doesn’t mean the vaccine caused the problem and that’s why regulators worldwide rule out, or in, any possibilities after checking with a fine-toothed comb.
Dr. Supriya Sharma, Health Canada’s chief medical adviser, says there’s no scientific basis for a link between blood clots and the AstraZeneca shot.
“There’s not a good biological explanation about why a vaccine of this type, injected into a muscle, would cause that kind of adverse event,” Sharma said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
The World Health Organization (WHO) called the investigation a “precautionary measure.”
“It’s very important to understand that, yes, we should continue to be using the AstraZeneca vaccine,” WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris told a briefing.
What do regulators do to find out?
It’s standard, after a vaccine hits the market, to review records for any hint of what scientists call a “biological mechanism” behind a potential link.
Most turn out to be nothing, doctors say.
The clot reports from Europe all go to centralized agencies focused on looking at the safety of medicines and vaccines, says Dr. Lisa Barrett, an infectious diseases physician at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
“Right now, they’re assessing whether the frequency of these particular events, these blood clots of various types and kinds, are likely or not likely related to vaccines,” Barrett said on CBC Radio’s The Current on Friday. “It is looking much less likely that this is related to vaccines.”
Blood clots can happen for a variety of reasons, Barrett said.
WATCH | Reassurance on safety of AstraZeneca-Oxford’s vaccine:
Despite some European countries temporarily halting use of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine after 30 cases of blood clots, experts maintain it is still safe to use in Canada. 2:01
Then what?
Step two is to see whether more patients experienced the event than what’s expected naturally in the population.
Dr. Anand Kumar, an infectious diseases specialist working at a Winnipeg intensive care unit, says you have to view this in the context of the number of vaccinations and the usual frequency of the adverse event.
The European Medicines Agency said, as of Wednesday, 30 cases of blood clots had been reported, including three deaths. That’s among five million people vaccinated with the AstraZeneca shot within the European Union.
“I have a high degree of confidence that they’ll look into this and within a couple of weeks they’ll say, ‘Something we need to keep an eye but nothing to be worried about,'” Kumar said.
Hypothetically, if a problem is found then authorities would also check if the blood clots happened more often among those with a history of them.
The available data suggest that among 5 million people who received the AZ vaccine, 30 developed a blood clot. So, 30 in 5 million. Our research team has shown that among those with COVID about 2% developed a blood clot. So about 100,000 in 5 million. <a href=”https://t.co/1VQ5K9Bmis”>https://t.co/1VQ5K9Bmis</a> <a href=”https://t.co/8a9lBTR58j”>pic.twitter.com/8a9lBTR58j</a>
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
