Eligible Ontarians aged 60 to 64 in three public health units will be able to book an appointment for the Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccine at a pharmacy starting on Friday.
The Ministry of Health says more than 325 pharmacies in Toronto, Windsor-Essex and Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (KFLA) are participating in a pilot program to administer 194,500 doses of the vaccine.
You can find the full list at the bottom of this story.
Ontario gained access to the initial shipment of the AstraZeneca vaccine this week. It was approved for use by Health Canada in late February, though the National Advisory Committee on Immunizations (NACI) subsequently recommended that it be used only for adults aged 18 to 64.
Members of the province’s vaccine task force said that due to the limited supply right now, the doses will be targeted toward residents aged 60 to 64 years old, which the province has defined by birth year as between 1957 and 1961.
At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, retired Gen. Rick Hillier, who is leading the province’s vaccine task force, said of the doses from the pilot project, 29,500 will be going to family doctors, while the rest are going to pharmacies.
Primary care physicians in six public health units (Hamilton, Toronto, Wellington-Dufferin Guelph, Peterborough, Simcoe Muskoka and Peel) will also start offering vaccines for eligible people age 60 to 64 starting on March 13. The province says they will not be taking appointments by request, but doctors will instead be contacting people directly to book appointments starting today.
Premier Doug Ford said the province should surpass one million overall vaccinations by the end of the day.
Soon, Ontario will have 120 new mass immunization clinics set up, Ford said, and will be in a place to offer up to 150,000 vaccines a day, depending on supply.
“This is an absolute game-changer,” Ford said.
“It appears that our vaccine supply is continuing to improve.”
WATCH | Premier Ford on Ontario’s vaccine pilot project:
Ontarians aged 60 to 64 in three public health units will be able to book an appointment for the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at a pharmacy starting on Friday. Officials said that more than 325 pharmacies in Toronto, Windsor-Essex and Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (KFLA) will be participating in a pilot program to administer 194,500 doses of the vaccine. 1:27
Provincial officials also say that Ontario will launch an online booking system and a provincial customer service desk for vaccinations on March 15. Those supports are intended to help answer questions and book appointments at mass vaccination clinics, starting with people over the age of 80.
At the news conference, Ford pleaded with the public not to try to use those systems unless they are in that over-80 age bracket. Many locations have had problems with these sorts of initiatives at the outset because demand overpowered capacity.
“If you’re not booking for anyone from 80 plus, please do not go online, please do not call that number,” Ford said.
Long-term care resident deaths down as vaccines ramp up
Because the AstraZeneca vaccine can be stored in a regular fridge, health officials intend to distribute primarily through pharmacies and primary care providers once shipments ramp up.
Right now, time is critical, as about 114,000 of the doses are set to expire on April 1. Speaking yesterday, Health Minister Elliott said none of those shots will be wasted.
“We have been ready to receive the AstraZeneca vaccines and we will be able to deliver them before expiry,” she said during question period at Queen’s Park.
Elliott added that once shipments of vaccines ramp up in coming weeks, Ontario will be able to quadruple its capacity in “very short order.”
The province administered 35,264 shots of COVID-19 vaccines yesterday. A total of 279,204 people have received both shots of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.
The effort to immunize those living in long-term care has dramatically reduced COVID-19-linked deaths among residents, of which 3,876 have died during the pandemic. Today was the fifth straight day in Ontario without any additional resident deaths reported.
(CBC)
1,316 new COVID-19 cases
Meanwhile, this morning Ontario reported another 1,316 cases of COVID-19 and 16 more deaths of people with the illness.
The new cases include 428 in Toronto, 244 in Peel Region and 149 in York Region.
Health units that saw a double-digit increase were:
Thunder Bay: 67
Hamilton: 59
Ottawa: 59
Durham Region: 48
Halton Region: 48
Simcoe-Muskoka: 31
Waterloo Region: 25
Windsor-Essex: 23
Niagara Region: 19
Peterborough: 16
Brant County: 14
Sudbury: 13
Eastern Ontario: 11
Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District: 11
(Note: All of the figures used in this story are found on the Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 dashboard or in its Daily Epidemiologic Summary. The number of cases for any region may differ from what is reported by the local public health unit on a given day, because local units report figures at different times.)
The seven-day average climbed for a fifth straight day to 1,238, its highest point in about a month (though it is important to note that, due to a data error, the daily case count on March 8 was artificially inflated by a few hundred infections that should have been reported the previous Saturday).
According to the Ministry of Health, there were people with COVID-19 in hospitals, of which 281 were being treated in intensive care.
Notably, however, an internal March 8 report from Critical Care Services Ontario (CCSO) put the number of COVID-19 patients in ICUs at 344. The CCSO report, which is circulated among hospitals and health agencies, reflects a more accurate accounting of ICU admissions due to a difference in how cases are counted.
Hospitals continue to prepare for the possible implications of a rise in the transmission of variants of concern, which Ontario’s COVID-19 science advisory table has said could put a significant burden on ICUs.
Toronto sets up field hospital ahead of possible 3rd wave
Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto confirmed today that a mobile health unit is being built on its campus in preparation for a potential influx of patients in April. The field operation is a joint effort between the hospital and the provincial and federal governments.
A mobile health unit consisting of self-contained pods with eight to 10 beds each was erected on the Bayview campus of Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto this morning. (Paul Smith/CBC)
A spokesperson for the hospital said the mobile unit will have 84 beds, though it can be expanded to accommodate 100 if need arises.
“In the event of an increase in the demand for beds, we expect the facility will most likely be used to provide space for patients who are awaiting placement in other facilities, and low acuity recovering patients which will free up acute and critical care beds in the hospital,” the spokesperson said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in January that two mobile health units would be sent to help hospitals in the Greater Toronto Area. The federal government procured 10 mobile health units last year as the COVID-19 pandemic was worsening in Canada.
See the full list of pharmacies participating in the pilot here:
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.
