Having a mixed COVID-19 vaccine — two shots but with different vaccines — may do more than impede your travel plans. It could hurt your chances of working abroad.
Several countries don’t recognize people with mixed doses as being fully vaccinated.
That’s the general position in the United States where the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) currently doesn’t condone mixing COVID-19 vaccines.
Canadians can fly to the U.S. without showing proof of vaccination. However, many cruise lines departing the country have vaccination requirements — which are based on CDC guidelines.
As a result, some Canadian cruise ship workers say they lost out on jobs because they weren’t considered fully vaccinated due to their mixed vaccines.
“It was really heartbreaking,” said dancer Rosie Harbans of Toronto who performs in cruise ship shows. “This is how I make my money. This is how I live my life. This is my livelihood.”
Last year, Harbans’ cruise ship contract was cut short after the pandemic forced the cruise industry to shut down in March 2020.
So she was thrilled to land a job starting next month with a cruise line. But she said her joy — and her job offer — disappeared after the cruise company learned she had mixed COVID-19 doses: one Pfizer and one Moderna.
“I was very, very upset, because I thought that getting a mixed vaccine was the right thing to do,” said Harbans.
Cruise ship dancer, Rosie Harbans of Toronto said she was heartbroken to discover she couldn’t accept a job on a cruise ship because she has a mixed COVID-19 vaccine. (Yasmin Parodi)
To protect their future employment, CBC News has agreed to not name the cruise line involved in Harbans’ case or in the case of a second cruise ship entertainer interviewed for this story.
Both said they don’t blame the cruise lines, and that they are speaking out to encourage the Canadian government to push for the acceptance of mixed vaccines internationally.
“Find a solution,” said Harbans. “Try and do it as quickly as possible for all of the people that took [the government’s] advice in getting a mixed vaccine.”
Since mid-July, the federal government has repeatedly said it’s working with other countries to resolve their differing vaccine policies. But Ottawa has yet to announce any progress on that front.
No international consensus on mixed vaccines
Millions of Canadians have received mixed COVID-19 vaccines. That’s because in June, Canada updated its guidelines to recommend mixing COVID-19 vaccine doses based on emerging research that found it was both safe and effective.
But there’s currently no international consensus on mixing COVID-19 vaccines.
For example, according to their government websites, both Ireland andthe United Kingdom don’t recognize any combination of mixed COVID-19 vaccines.
Germany andTrinidad and Tobago only recognize a mix of AstraZeneca and Pfizer or Moderna. The World Health Organization (WHO) takes the same position — with a cautionary note.
“There is currently limited data on the immunogenicity or efficacy of a ‘mix and match’ [COVID-19 vaccine] regimen,” the WHO said in a statement.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization says AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccines can be swapped for Pfizer or Moderna for the second dose. Limited evidence suggests the immunity from mixing doses is just as good, and may be better than two of the same. 2:00
The U.S. CDC takes the position that COVID-19 vaccines “are not interchangeable.” However, there are exceptions to the rule. The CDC says mixed doses of the two mRNA vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna, are acceptable in “exceptional situations,” such as when the vaccine used for the first dose was no longer available.
Several cruise lines told CBC News they’re simply following CDC protocol. “We are under the jurisdiction of CDC when operating in U.S. waters and follow its guidance as to approved vaccines and procedures,” said Holland America Line in an email.
‘Shot ourselves in the foot’
Cruise ship entertainer, Michael Harrison of Windsor, N.S., says having a mixed vaccine is hurting his livelihood.
“It’s pretty important that this gets sorted,” said Harrison who has spent 25 years performing as a comedy ventriloquist on cruise ships.
“It’s [my] employment. It’s a career that I had for my whole life.”
Ventriloquist Michael Harrison says he has yet to return to full-time cruise ship work due to having two doses of different COVID-19 vaccines. The U.S. doesn’t recognize people with mixed vaccines as being fully vaccinated. (Michael Harrison/funnyguy.ca)
Both Harrison and his fiancée, who works as his assistant, each got a mix of AstraZeneca and Moderna.
Harrison said that over the past two months, the duo was offered jobs with two different cruise lines — with the first gig starting this month. But Harrison said when he learned that the cruise companies don’t recognize people with a mix of AstraZeneca and Moderna as being fully vaccinated, the couple had to reluctantly decline the job offers.
“We had no clue that it wouldn’t be recognized,” said Harrison’s fiancée, Jennifer Giesbrecht. “Here we think we’re doing a good thing and we just shot ourselves in the foot.”
Some cruise workers consider getting third dose
Last week, the federal government announced it plans to create a standardized proof-of-vaccination passport for international travel by early fall.
The announcement included no resolution on the mixed vaccine issue, which Ottawa said is still a work in progress.
“The Government of Canada continues to work with the World Health Organization and its international partners to share data proving the efficacy of a mixed vaccine schedule,” said Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada in a statement.
Worried they’re running out of time, Harrison and Giesbrecht are investigating getting a third vaccine dose, so they have two doses of the same vaccine.
However, in Canada, only Quebec and Saskatchewan have announced they’re offering third doses to people travelling abroad. Quebec and Saskatchewan each told CBC News that, at this time, only people living in the province can apply.
On Wednesday, the U.S. announced it plans to start offering COVID-19 booster shots to all adult Americans next month as an added layer of protection. Although Canada is exploring the efficacy of third doses, it’s not recommending them at this time.
“We don’t really know the exact impacts of adding another dose to the existing schedule,” said Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam at a news conference earlier this month.
She also suggested it could be some time before the mixed vaccine problem gets resolved.
“It is going to be a bit confusing and complicated in the next months ahead.”
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.
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