As vaccine coverage blankets the country, ushering in hope for a return to normal, Pfizer announced Thursday that it’s prepping a COVID-19 booster shot to make sure things keep trending in the right direction.
There’s just one problem, according to experts. We might not actually need it.
Preventing severe outcomes is the key to quashing COVID-19’s impact on our daily lives, according to the experts. Lockdowns and restrictions come into play when hospitalizations start to push the health care system’s capacity to its outer limits.
But with vaccines proving highly effective at preventing severe outcomes, experts say any conversations about boosters are still premature.
“I don’t think there’s good clinical evidence,” said Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious disease specialist, on whether there’s data to back up Pfizer’s booster shot claims.
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Chagla added people “shouldn’t necessarily worry that these two shots are going to be useless in a few years.”
“These are the shots that are going to keep people out of hospital and health care from dying,” he said.
Chagla isn’t alone in his skepticism.
“The general feeling that it is not the right time for a third dose of the mRNA vaccines,” said John Moore, a virologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York.
“We’re not saying it should never happen, but now is not the time.”
While there are few studies showing how long protection provided by COVID-19 vaccines lasts, the early research is promising.
A study published in the journal Nature in late June found mRNA-based vaccines create a more “persistent” germinal centre B cell response, which means that a person’s immune response to the jab is stronger and longer-lasting.
The researchers examined participants four months after they received their first Pfizer dose and found that the germinal centres in their lymph nodes, likened to a boot camp for immune cells, kept pumping out said cells to protect against the virus that causes COVID-19.
Despite this research, Pfizer is maintaining that it is “likely” that a third dose “may be needed within 6 to 12 months after full vaccination,” according to the company’s Thursday press release.
“While protection against severe disease remained high across the full 6 months, a decline in efficacy against symptomatic disease over time and the continued emergence of variants are expected.”
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The United States’ FDA and CDC released a joint statement responding to Pfizer’s claims this week — and in it, they said there’s currently no evidence supporting a recommendation of a booster shot.
“Americans who have been fully vaccinated do not need a booster shot at this time. FDA, CDC, and NIH are engaged in a science-based, rigorous process to consider whether or when a booster might be necessary,” the organizations wrote in the statement.
They said this process will look at laboratory data, clinical trial data and, potentially, data from specific pharmaceutical companies — but the research will “not rely on those data exclusively.”
“We continue to review any new data as it becomes available and will keep the public informed. We are prepared for booster doses if and when the science demonstrates that they are needed,” the statement read.
Health Canada struck a similar tone in their own statement about the issue, which they sent to Global News.
“Currently, people who are fully vaccinated are protected from severe disease and death, including from the variants currently circulating,” read the statement.
But Health Canada is open to the possibility of booster shots if the evidence supports it, they said, adding that the longevity of the immune response to existing vaccines is “currently being studied.”
And while Pfizer’s vaccine efforts have been hugely helpful in quashing the spread of COVID-19, they’ve also proven to be extremely lucrative for the company.
In the first three months of 2021 alone, the COVID-19 vaccine raked in $3.5 billion USD ($4.3 billion CAD) in revenue for the pharmaceutical giant, according to their reported first quarter earnings.
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Some experts wonder if Pfizer’s arguments in favour of a booster shot could have a financial motivation.
“It’s being (said) that Pfizer is being somewhat opportunistic,” said Moore.
“Pushing the idea of vaccine boosters will, of course, greatly increase vaccine sales.”
Chagla added that these vaccines are some of “the most valuable assets on Earth right now” and that keeping them in the “limelight” likely “plays a role” in what’s happening here.
There may be a need for a booster eventually, Chagla added, but “there is something to be said about the fact that we’re talking about boosters for variants, without a global vaccine plan.”
The threat of vaccine inequality
As for Pfizer’s claims that the “continued emergence of variants are expected,” experts say there’s a much bigger threat when it comes to deadly mutations of the virus: the lack of vaccine coverage around the world.
It comes down to how variants emerge, according to Chagla.
As a virus spreads, it replicates. With each opportunity the virus has to replicate, it has more and more chances to make a mistake. Sometimes, those mistakes end up being advantageous for the virus — either allowing it to spread more easily, or potentially making the virus more severe.
The more COVID-19 spreads, the more opportunities it has to replicate and mutate. That means the biggest risk for the creation of variants is the large pockets of the world where uncontrolled spread is still occurring, Chagla explained.
“The big things that lead to variants are large unvaccinated populations, particularly ones where health systems are really poor and patients with immune conditions,” he said.
And while Canada’s current levels of vaccine coverage are sufficient to stave off the worst outcomes of the pandemic, Moore noted that many countries in the world aren’t so privileged.
“There is an ethical concern about prioritizing dose three for Americans over doses one and two for the rest of the world,” he said.
The WHO has warned that vaccine coverage in some parts of the world remains worryingly low.
“In some parts of the world, the vaccination rates, even at one dose, are one per cent, two per cent, three per cent, five per cent,” said Dr. Peter Singer, an advisor with the WHO, in a Wednesday interview with Global News.
“To be safe is for this fire to be put out everywhere in the world, because otherwise, if it’s burning anywhere, it’s going to be casting off embers that are going to ignite flames everywhere.”
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Chagla said that as long as the world prioritizes new variant-focused vaccines over getting those first and second doses rolled out around the world, we’ll all be playing catch-up in preventing COVID-19’s spread.
“We can build vaccines to make ourselves more protected against the evolution of this virus,” Chagla said.
“But if we’re not addressing the root cause of the evolution of this virus, then we’re going to be left with chasing our tails over and over and over again.”
— with files from Global News’ David Lao and Mike Le Couteur
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.
