While most Canadians are celebrating after their second COVID-19 vaccine doses, many expatriate Canadians living and working overseas are opting for third and fourth jabs.
They say they’ve been left with little choice but to re-vaccinate if they want to return to Canada in future and avoid Canada’s 14-day hotel and quarantine provisions.
“I don’t want to hotel quarantine again,” said Monique Horvath, a 49-year-old Canadian teacher from Nanaimo, B.C., who has lived and worked in Moscow for the last 14 years.
She and her husband Brendan each got two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine in the spring — but they were the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, the only shot available to them, which is not approved for use in Canada. That means they would still have to quarantine if coming home.
“If there’s an emergency and we need to come back to Canada … that’s a big thing in my mind when you’re overseas and away from family,” Horvath said of their decision to undergo another two doses of vaccines each.
WATCH | Canada’s prime minister on how the Canada-U.S. border will reopen:
As of today, fully vaccinated Canadians entering the country can forgo the 14 day quarantine. But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is standing by a scaled approach to easing border restrictions — and non-essential travel between the U.S. and Canada remains restricted until July 21. 1:32
After making the trip back to B.C. in June, Horvath said she and Brendan rolled up their sleeves for Moderna once they were done with their two weeks of isolation.
They expect to get the second shot of Moderna before they return to Moscow.
The rules
Earlier this week, the Canadian government dropped its controversial hotel quarantine and 14 days in isolation for “fully vaccinated” Canadians entering the country.
But that means having a vaccine approved by Health Canada — and the list is limited to Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca-Oxford, COVISHIELD, or Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose vaccine.
Russia’s Sputnik V, China’s Sinopharm, and India’s Covaxin are not on the list — even though hundreds of millions of people around the world have either taken them already or are in the process of doing so.
Horvath said more than 20 of her co-workers now on their breaks in the United States, Canada and Europe posted photos of themselves on Facebook getting their additional vaccinations — opting to re-vaccinate even though there is virtually no research on the implications of doing so.
“People I know checked with their doctors and they said it’s fine,” she said.
‘It’s probably ok’
Several Canadian vaccine experts agreed taking extra vaccine doses probably is “fine” — but with caveats.
“From a health standpoint it’s hard to know what the benefit or drawback is — it’s probably OK, but I can’t look you in the eye and tell you with any degree of confidence that it is,” said Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases specialist at Toronto General hospital.
Bogoch, who’s a member of Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, said so far, there is no official guidance from any of the key international health bodies on the implications of taking additional COVID-19 vaccines. The issue is only beginning to emerge.
Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Alberta, said this is an important issue that is going to grow exponentially as more expatriates travel and repatriate.
“I think there’s a real need to straighten this out because it’s creating a condition where people are embarking on completely untested doubling up regimens to fill regulatory requirements,” she said.
Members of Welbes family, expatriates who live in Moscow, opted to get two doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in the United States after they initially got the Sputnik V vaccine in Russia. This way, they can enter Canada without quarantining for 14 days. (Submitted by Kirsten Welbes)
Saxinger said she was recently asked for advice on getting re-vaccinated by a Canadian living in the Middle East after he had already taken two doses of a vaccine not approved in Canada.
The topic is widely discussed on expat social media sites, including a Facebook page where Canadians share stories about trying to navigate the border restrictions.
The latest census taken in 2009 shows 2.8 million Candians live and work outside of Canada and many — if not most — do not have access to COVID-19 vaccines approved by Health Canada.
Thousands of international students headed for Canada could face challenges if they have received vaccines that aren’t approved here.
“The people [Canadians abroad] who took these vaccines did the right thing at the time,” said Bogoch.
“COVID was running rampant and you’ve got to take whatever vaccine is available in a time of crisis. That was at that time — what do you do now?”
An experiment
Kirsten and Todd Welbes faced a similar dilemma.
They too received both doses of Russia’s Sputnik V at home in Moscow, where they are teachers.
But faced with the Canadian border restrictions and other travel restrictions in Europe, the dual Canadian-U.S. family designed their summer around getting two doses of the Pfizer vaccine in the United States, which would allow them to travel to Canada later.
Dr. Lynora M. Saxinger, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Alberta, said taking two different vaccine regimens may create a stronger immune response as the second course acts as a booster. (John Ulan/Ulan Photography)
“New situations are put in our path and then we have to figure it out,” said Welbes, 45.
“Would I have chosen to get two different vaccines in two different countries? Probably not.”
Like Horvath, Welbes said getting re-vaccinated means they will hopefully now be able to visit family in Canada and Europe without restrictions, especially in emergencies.
It also means they will be able to take their 16-year-old daughter to visit a prospective university in British Columbia on a short Christmas break.
But while they are comfortable with the health implications of their decision, Todd Welbes said he does feel a little like a human lab experiment.
“There’s a very real possibility that I’m completely wrong and that this is a terrible idea and I’ve jeopardized our health.”
Risks
Health Canada has yet to weigh in on the re-vaccination question.
In an emailed statement, the department said “it has not issued any recommendations on this matter at this time.”
Saxinger, the University of Alberta infectious diseases expert, said taking two different vaccine regimens may create a stronger immune response as the second course acts as a booster.
But she said there have been very rare situations where taking a particular booster vaccine in too short a timeframe can actually “blunt” the immune response.
Some of the re-vaccinated Canadians who gave interviews for this story also complained of intense reactions after their first dose of the second round of vaccines.
“I had more side effects with Moderna than my second Sputnik shot,” said Horvath.
“Headache, nausea, chills, fever, muscle aches, just feeling horrible. Brendan was exactly the same.”
Saxinger said that type of reaction is not surprising.
“It’s entirely possible you might be having a more vigorous immune response because of antibodies in your system,” she said.
Another immunology expert, Rod Russell, said the vaccines are “safe by themselves.” But the professor of virology at Newfoundland’s Memorial University said it might be better to mix mRNA vaccines, such as Pfizer and Moderna, with viral vector vaccines such as Sputnik V.
Issac Bogoch, the Toronto General hospital expert, said it’s understandable people would want to get re-vaccinated to avoid “being on the losing end of vaccine passports.”
But he said it’s likely countries will — and should — eventually accept World Health Organization-approved vaccines so the need to re-vaccinate may eventually become unnecessary.
Too slow
Canada’s government has been shipping out vaccines to its embassies around the world where Health Canada approved vaccines aren’t available, which helps diplomats and other staff avoid this dilemma. But not for other Canadians working abroad.
Kirsten Welbes, the Moscow teacher, said the world isn’t moving fast enough to find a global solution. So she had to find one in the meantime.
“I just have to be pragmatic,” she said. “What is coming at me and what is the best decision I can make based on that small amount of information? You just do your best.”
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Lightning selected Victor Hedman as the team captain on Wednesday as training camp opened, making the big defenseman the successor to Steven Stamkos.
Hedman, who is going into his 16th season with Tampa Bay, was considered the obvious choice to get the “C” after the Lightning did not re-sign Stamkos and their longtime captain left to join Nashville.
“Victor is a cornerstone player that is extremely well respected by his teammates, coaches and peers across the NHL,” general manager Julien BriseBois said. “Over the past 15 seasons, he has been a world-class representative for our organization both on and off the ice. Victor embodies what it means to be a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning and is more than ready for this exciting opportunity. We are looking forward to watching him flourish in his new role as we continue to work towards our goal of winning the Stanley Cup.”
The 33-year-old from Sweden was a key contributor in the Lightning hoisting the Cup back to back in 2020 and ’21, including playoff MVP honors on the first of those championship runs. Hedman also took home the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman in 2018 and finished in the top three in voting five other seasons.
Ryan McDonagh, who was reacquired early in the offseason in a trade with the Predators, and MVP finalist Nikita Kucherov will serve as alternate captains with the Lightning moving on to the post-Stamkos era.
TORONTO – While Toronto FC is looking to improve its position on the pitch, general manager Jason Hernandez is trying to do the same off it.
That has been easier said than done this season.
Sending winger Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty to CF Montreal for up to $1.3 million (all dollar figures in U.S. funds) in general allocation money before the secondary transfer window closed in early August helped set the stage for future moves.
But there have been plenty of obstacles, which Hernandez has been working to clear.
“We feel a lot more confident going into this upcoming off-season that we did the one prior,” said Hernandez. “There’s a level of what I would say booby-traps that were uncovered when I first got the (GM) role at the end of last summer.”
The club is paying off departed forwards Adam Diomande and Ayo Akinola as well as a $500,000 payment due in 2024 to Belgium’s Anderlecht for Jamaican international defender Kemar Lawrence. That payment was part of the transfer fee for Lawrence, who joined TFC from Anderlecht in May 2021 and was traded to Minnesota United in March 2022.
Diomande was waived while Akinola’s contract was terminated by mutual agreement.
“That comes to an end in ’25, which is nice,” said Hernandez. “We had to suffer from a salary cap perspective this season. But those things coming off, the Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty money coming in, we’re going to be in a position to make some good additions, which is positive.”
While MLS clubs are allowed one contract buyout per year, Toronto had already used its on former captain Michel Bradley, who retired after last season. Bradley had previously restructured his contract, deferring money.
TFC’s only other move during the summer transfer window was the signing of free-agent defender Henry Wingo. Hernandez said the club knew going into the window that it was likely limited to the one acquisition “unless other business happened”
“We knew we had this bucket of money and we knew we were going to go get Henry,” said Hernandez.
While the sale of the highly touted Marshall-Rutty opened up other possibilities, it came on the eve of the transfer window closing. And the team did not like what it saw in the free-agent market.
“A lot of the opportunities we were presented in the free agency space felt more like a short-term, Band-Aid decision versus what actually the club probably needs.”
Hernandez was not willing to take in players who came with a “club-friendly” salary cap charge in 2024 and a much bigger number in 2025.
Instead, Toronto promoted forward Charlie Sharp and wingback Nate Edwards to the first team from TFC 2 ahead of last Friday’s roster freeze.
MLS teams are operating on a salary budget of $5.47 million this season, which covers up to 20 players on the senior roster (clubs can elect to spread that number across 18 players). But the league has several mechanisms that allow those funds to go further, including using allocation money (both general and targeted) to buy down salaries.
Designated players only count $683,750 — the maximum salary charge — against the cap no matter their actual pay. Toronto’s Lorenzo Insigne is actually earning $15.4 million with fellow Italian Federico Bernardeschi collecting $6.295 million and Canadian Richie Laryea $1.208 million.
Hernandez says Laryea’s contract can — and “very likely” will — be restructured so as to remove the designated player status.
There are benefits in going with just two designated players rather than three.
Teams that elect to go with two DPs can sign up to four players as part of the league’s “U22 Initiative.” The pluses of that structure include a reduced salary cap charge for the young players and up to an extra $2 million in general allocation money.
Hernandez says the club is currently pondering whether that is the way to go.
Captain Jonathan Osorio who is earning $836,370 this season, restructured his deal to allow the team to sign Laryea as a DP. In doing so, Osorio had his option year guaranteed so his contact runs through 2026.
Hernandez and coach John Herdman will have decisions to make come the end of the year.
The contracts of goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh ($94,200), defenders Kevin Long ($277,500), Shane O’Neill ($413,000) and Kobe Franklin ($100,520), midfielder Alonso Coello ($94,050) and Brandon Servania ($602,710), and forward Prince Owusu ($807,500) — all on the club’s senior roster — expire at the end of 2024 with club options to follow.
While there is more work to do, Hernandez believes TFC is on the right road.
Toronto, which finished last in the league at 4-20-10 in 2023, went into Wednesday’s game against visiting Columbus in a playoff position at eighth in the East at 11-15-3.
“By every metric, we are miles ahead of where we were at this point last year,” said Hernandez.
“That’s a low bar, so that’s not saying much,” he added.
But he believes TFC is “quite competitive” when it has all its players at its disposal.
“To get results in this final stretch, we’re going to need our prominent players to really show up and have big performances, and be supported by the rest of the cast.”
After Columbus, TFC plays at Colorado and Chicago and hosts the New York Red Bulls and Inter Miami. The club also travels to Vancouver for the Canadian Championship final.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024
Mackenzie Hughes might just be what the International team needs as this year’s Presidents Cup.
Hughes, from Dundas, Ont., is one of three Canadians on the squad competing in the match-play event at Royal Montreal Golf Club next week.
His putting skills, cool demeanour under pressure, pre-existing connections with teammates and clubhouse leadership could help the team — made up of non-American players outside Europe — end a nine-tournament losing skid to the United States at the biennial event.
“I’ve had this one circled on the calendar for a few years now,” said Hughes on joining fellow Canadians Taylor Pendrith and Corey Conners as captain’s picks on the 12-player International team. “I pretty much knew that when it was announced the tournament would be in Canada and that Mike Weir was going to be the captain, you pretty much knew where that was going to go.
“To get that call from (Weir) is really special because he’s the guy that I looked up to, we all looked up to, as Canadian golfers.”
Pendrith and Conners are returning to the team after a disappointing 17 1/2 to 12 1/2 loss to the United States at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C. in 2022.
Hughes was ranked 14th on the International team standings in 2022 and could have easily been included on that squad after Australia’s Cameron Smith and Chile’s Joaquin Niemann were ruled ineligible after jumping ship to the rival LIV Golf circuit.
However, captain Trevor Immelman of South Africa instead chose the lower ranked Christiaan Bezuidenhout (16th) of South Africa, Pendrith (18th), South Korea’s Kim Si-woo (20th) and Australia’s Cameron Davis (25th).
“I certainly wanted to be on that team but also I understood the picks,” said Hughes, who lives in Charlotte and plays at Quail Hollow regularly. “I think that like a lot of guys that don’t get picked you more so look back on your own play and I wish I had made that selection easier for them.
“I didn’t do myself any favours in the six weeks leading up to it and that’s a hard pill to swallow.”
It may have been a costly oversight on Immelman’s part, as finishing holes was an issue for the International team in 2022 and Hughes is one of the best putters on the PGA Tour. This season he’s third in shots gained around the green and fifth in shots gained from putting.
“It doesn’t mean that just because I was there it would have turned the tide, but I’d like to think maybe I could have helped,” said Hughes. “That’s why you play the matches. You have to get out there and do it.”
This year Hughes made it easier for Weir, the Canadian golf legend from Brights Grove, Ont., to choose him. Hughes is 51st in the FedEx Cup Fall standings and has made the cut seven tournaments in a row, including a tie for fourth at last week’s Procore Championship.
“Mac played very solidly all year. Really like his short game, an all-around short game,” said Weir on Sept. 3 after announcing his captain’s picks. “He’s one of the elite and best short game guys on the PGA Tour
“I also love Mac’s grit. So that was the reason I picked him.”
Hughes’s intangible qualities go beyond grit.
He, Pendrith and Conners will arrive at Royal Montreal as a unit within the International squad, having become close friends while playing on Kent State University’s men’s golf team before turning pro. They’re also part of a group of Canadians, including Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., that regularly practice together before PGA Tour events.
“To have those guys with me is really icing on the cake, it’s very special,” said Hughes. “Opportunities like this don’t come around very often: to play this kind of team competition, which is already hard to do, but to play with some of your best friends, it almost seems scripted.”
An 11-year professional, Hughes has also been a member of the PGA Tour’s player advisory council the past two years and has been an outspoken advocate for making professional golf more accessible to fans.
Although Weir relied heavily on analytics to make his captain’s selections, Hughes’s character came up again and again when asked why he was named to the team.
“I just have a gut feeling with Mac that he has what it takes in these big moments,” said Weir. “They’re big pressure moments, and I have a feeling he’s going to do great in those moments.”
DP WORLD TOUR — Aaron Cockerill of Stony Mountain, Man., continues his chase for a spot in the Europe-based DP World Tour’s playoffs. The top 50 players on the Race to Dubai standings make the DP World Tour Championship and Cockerill moved eight spots up to 39th in the rankings after tying for ninth at last week’s Irish Open. He’ll be back at it on Thursday at the BMW PGA Championship at the Wentworth Club in Surrey, England.
KORN FERRY TOUR — Myles Creighton of Digby, N.S., is ranked 38th on the second-tier Korn Ferry Tour’s points list. He leads the Canadian contingent into this week’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship. He’ll be joined at Ohio State University Golf Club — Scarlet Course in Columbus, Ohio by Edmonton’s Wil Bateman (53rd), Etienne Papineau (65th) of St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que., and Sudarshan Yellamaraju (99th) of Mississauga, Ont.
CHAMPIONS TOUR — Calgary’s Stephen Ames is the lone Canadian at this week’s Pure Insurance Championship. He’s No. 2 on the senior circuit’s points list. The event will start Friday and be played at Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass Hill Golf Course in Monterey, Calif.
LPGA TOUR — There are four Canadians in this week’s Kroger City Championship. Savannah Grewal (97th in the Race to CME Globe Rankings) of Mississauga, Ont., Hamilton’s Alena Sharp (115th), and Maude-Aimee Leblanc (142nd) of Sherbrooke, Que., will all tee it up at TPC River’s Bend in Maineville, Ohio.
EPSON TOUR — Vancouver’s Leah John is the low Canadian heading into the Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout. She’s 54th in the second-tier tour’s points list. She’ll be joined by Maddie Szeryk (118th) of London, Ont., and Brigitte Thibault (119th) of Rosemere, Que., at Mystic Creek Golf Club in El Dorado, Ark.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
