Scoring a leftover dose of COVID-19 vaccine is like winning the lottery. But who should be allowed to play?
Canada has approved two vaccines so far: one from Pfizer-BioNTech and another from Moderna. Both have a limited shelf life after thawing, therefore appointment no-shows can mean leftover doses at the end of the day.
In the USA, people of all ages have been posting tips about how to snag a surplus shot on websites like Vaccine Hunter.
Some TikTok users have made joyful videos about their success after waiting in pharmacy standby lines. A Tennessee news outlet reported Nashville was running a raffle — drawing a few names each day to come get a shot within 30 minutes.
1:49 Coronavirus: White House invoking DPA, originally intended as wartime measure, to speed up vaccine production
Coronavirus: White House invoking DPA, originally intended as wartime measure, to speed up vaccine production
In Canada, COVID-19 vaccines are harder to come by. Shipment delays have slowed roll-out efforts, leaving priority groups waiting for their second or even their first dose. Yet some non-priority Canadians have already received a shot.
“I think (Ontario) set a really negative precedent for the rest of the nation,” Dr. Kerry Bowman told Global News.
The Toronto bioethicist points to examples of Ontario hospitals vaccinating non-frontline staff. One long-term care home in the province allegedly vaccinated family and friends of board members and staff.
While no one wants the precious commodity to go to waste, Bowman says there is no excuse for vaccines not going to vulnerable people right now.
“In most cases, it’s not hard to find people that meet those protocols. Whether you’re in a hospital or a long term care facility, it can be done,” Bowman said.
“No one should be (vaccinating) without that plan before they start.”
Some are calling for a national policy on what to do with leftover doses. At a news conference on Feb. 9, Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam said such policies are up to provincial and local authorities.
Story continues below advertisement
“What we do try and share is best practices and making sure that provinces can share how they reduce any kind of wastage,” Tam said.
“Nobody wants to waste (vaccines) so any way in which people can get them into people’s arms is really critical.”
2:07 Coronavirus: More than 70% of Canadians intend to get COVID-19 vaccine, Tam says
Coronavirus: More than 70% of Canadians intend to get COVID-19 vaccine, Tam says
Some provinces have clear guidelines. Alberta Health Services has created a “wastage strategy,” with an “evolving list of eligible individuals” according to an email from AHS spokesperson Kerry Williamson.
The list includes people who already have a vaccination appointment booked and people who are over the age of 75, but are not yet eligible.
Williamson said Alberta’s current waste levels of COVID-19 are “extremely low” at 0.2 per cent.
Infectious diseases physician Stephanie Smith points out a one-size-fits-all approach to distribution may not work in remote areas.
“I think that there has to be a little bit of flexibility based on infrastructure and location,” Smith said.
Bowman predicts Canadians may one day look back at the history books in disbelief.
“We had active outbreaks right there, and we were giving away vaccines to peripheral people.”
Here’s a brief look at what we know about the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines:
Moderna
The first doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine have arrived in Ottawa, Mayor Jim Watson said Friday.
Eduardo Munoz/Pool via AP
Headquarters: Cambridge, Mass.
About the vaccine: Messenger RNA (ribonucleic acid), a genetic component that carries genetic information of a virus. The mRNA vaccines inject part of the code from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which then train the immune system to recognize the virus and mount an immune response against it. Moderna partnered with Lonza, which is manufacturing the vaccine.
Storage: Vaccine is frozen between -15 C and -25 C, can be kept in a refrigerator between 2 C and 8 C for up to 30 days.
Doses: Two, 28 days apart.*
Effectiveness: Trials showed it to prevent serious illness from COVID-19 in 94 per cent of patients.
Canadian purchase agreement signed: July 24, 2020.
Doses purchased: 40 million. Initial purchase was 20 million doses with option for 36 million more. Canada exercised the option to buy 20 million more in early December. The remaining optional doses expired in December. Canada expects all 40 million doses to be delivered by the fall.
Status in Canada: Approved by Health Canada Dec. 23, 2020 for use on Canadians 18 years and older.
Pfizer-BioNTech
Story continues below advertisement
Global News.
Global News
Headquarters: Pfizer is headquartered in New York City and BioNTech in Mainz, Germany.
About the vaccine: Like Moderna’s, it is an mRNA vaccine. BioNTech developed the technology and partnered with Pfizer for further research, manufacturing and commercialization.
Storage: Vaccine must be kept at ultralow temperatures, between -60 C and -80 C. It is shipped on dry ice to keep it cold between freezers. Can be thawed to room temperature up to five days before use. It must be mixed with sodium chloride before injection and after mixing, can be kept at room temperature up to six hours.
Doses: Two, 21 days apart.*
Effectiveness: Prevented serious illness in 95 per cent of patients.
Canadian purchase agreement: Aug. 1, 2020.
Doses purchased: Canada got 20 million guaranteed doses with an option for 56 million more. It has exercised the options for another 20 million doses in 2021. Pfizer is to deliver four million doses by March 31 and most of the rest by Sept. 30.
Status in Canada: Approved by Health Canada Dec. 9 for Canadians 16 years of age and older.
* The National Advisory Committee on Immunization in Canada says the vaccines should be given on schedule where possible but if there are supply shortages, the second dose could be delayed up to six weeks, instead of the three or four weeks recommended.
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.
