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Pfizer’s COVID pill is in short supply. Should unvaccinated be prioritized? – Global News

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With a limited supply of Pfizer’s new COVID-19 treatment, Paxlovid, bound for Canada, the country’s top doctors have identified groups that should be first in line to get the pills — including unvaccinated older Canadians.

Giving unvaccinated Canadians access to this COVID-19 medication isn’t only the right thing to do, it’s smart public health policy, says one bioethicist.

“It would be ethically unjustifiable, and it would not be scientifically sound to withhold this limited drug from unvaccinated people,” said Dr. Kerry Bowman, a bioethicist at the University of Toronto.

In clinical trial data submitted to Health Canada, the drug was found to reduce risk of hospitalization and death by 89 per cent, according to Dr. Supriya Sharma, Canada’s chief medical adviser.

Read more:

Canada approved Paxlovid, Pfizer’s new oral COVID pill. What you need to know

Ethically speaking, Bowman explained, it’s “very dangerous” to make “judgments” about choices patients make, as well as “about how much health care they can receive based on the choices that they made.”

“It would be a dangerous precedent, and it’s not in alignment with the Canada Health Act,” Bowman said.

As for the science, keeping people out of the hospitals — unvaccinated or not — is key to emerging from the pandemic, he explained.

“From a triage point of view, (vaccination status) is not relevant information…we don’t want highly sick people in the intensive care unit with COVID that don’t have to be there,” Bowman said.

“And so if, in fact, you could avert some of the unvaccinated entering our ICU and taking up space, which is what everyone’s upset and complaining about, all the more reason to do that.”






1:34
COVID-19: O’Toole says Pfizer’s Paxlovid shipment of 30,000 treatment courses is ‘insufficient’


COVID-19: O’Toole says Pfizer’s Paxlovid shipment of 30,000 treatment courses is ‘insufficient’

Very few courses of this treatment are arriving in Canada in the weeks ahead. Canada has already received an initial shipment of 30,400 treatment courses, Procurement Minister Filomena Tassi said on Monday, and 120,000 more are expected to be delivered between now and the end of March.

There are over 330,000 active cases of the COVID-19 confirmed across the country right now, though that’s considered to be an underestimate.

But far from being the best option for all of those active cases, Paxlovid is only an effective treatment option for a small group of people in Canada to begin with, according to Health Canada. To receive a course of the COVID-19 treatment, an individual must be over 18, and must first test positive for COVID, either with a PCR or a rapid antigen test.

The person must also be within their first five days of having symptoms, and be sick enough to need the medicine without being so sick they need to go to the hospital.

“Paxlovid is just yet another piece of the puzzle that helps us manage this illness in people who may be at more risk,” said Dr. Gerald Evans, an infectious disease specialist at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. “For instance, those very small few who are not vaccinated at the moment.”

Read more:

Paxlovid, Pfizer’s oral COVID-19 pill, approved in Canada

Evans added that if you are fully vaccinated, you probably shouldn’t be concerned about others having access to Paxlovid before you.

“If you’re fully vaccinated, you don’t need this drug,” Evans said.

“The effectiveness of vaccination is clearly better than it is for a new antiviral medication like this that’s come out. So being fully vaccinated, you’re way ahead of the game.”

Some individuals who are fully vaccinated might find themselves needing the treatment, such as “an elderly person with a solid organ transplant,” Evans said, but those people are the exception, not the rule.

Who gets priority access to Paxlovid?

The final priority list will be up to the provinces and territories to decide, Health Canada said on Tuesday, but the federal government has provided those regions with “interim implementation considerations” for the first batches of Paxlovid that have arrived.

“(The) first consideration is prioritizing individuals who are at the highest risk for severe illness and hospitalizations,” said Anne Génier, a spokesperson for Health Canada.

Those individuals, Genier added, include immunocompromised Canadians, those over 60 who live in certain at-risk settings and aren’t fully vaccinated, and those over 80 “whose vaccinations are not up to date.”






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When will Pfizer COVID-19 antiviral treatment arrive in B.C.?


When will Pfizer COVID-19 antiviral treatment arrive in B.C.?

Global News contacted every province and territory to determine the criteria they’ll use in deciding who gets first access to the limited supply of Paxlovid.

In Quebec, people who are immunocompromised will be given priority access to the treatment, regardless of their vaccination status, a spokesperson told Global News. New Brunswick’s government, meanwhile, said Paxlovid “will only be provided to individuals who are among the public health priority groups for the time being.”






1:24
COVID-19: Canada has already received 1st shipment of Pfizer antiviral pill, procurement minister says


COVID-19: Canada has already received 1st shipment of Pfizer antiviral pill, procurement minister says

Nova Scotia, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia did not provide specifics on their priority groups. However, Ontario, Alberta and B.C. all said they are currently working to determine eligibility and would have more details to share in the near future.

Manitoba did not directly answer Global News’ question. Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon governments did not respond by the time of publication.

At the end of the day, Paxlovid is just another tool in the pandemic toolbox, said Evans.

“I don’t think this is a game changer,” he said.

“What this is about, is yet another very effective tool we can use in a portion of the population.”

© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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Telus prioritizing ‘most important customers,’ avoiding ‘unprofitable’ offers: CFO

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Telus Corp. says it is avoiding offering “unprofitable” discounts as fierce competition in the Canadian telecommunications sector shows no sign of slowing down.

The company said Friday it had fewer net new customers during its third quarter compared with the same time last year, as it copes with increasingly “aggressive marketing and promotional pricing” that is prompting more customers to switch providers.

Telus said it added 347,000 net new customers, down around 14.5 per cent compared with last year. The figure includes 130,000 mobile phone subscribers and 34,000 internet customers, down 30,000 and 3,000, respectively, year-over-year.

The company reported its mobile phone churn rate — a metric measuring subscribers who cancelled their services — was 1.09 per cent in the third quarter, up from 1.03 per cent in the third quarter of 2023. That included a postpaid mobile phone churn rate of 0.90 per cent in its latest quarter.

Telus said its focus is on customer retention through its “industry-leading service and network quality, along with successful promotions and bundled offerings.”

“The customers we have are the most important customers we can get,” said chief financial officer Doug French in an interview.

“We’ve, again, just continued to focus on what matters most to our customers, from a product and customer service perspective, while not loading unprofitable customers.”

Meanwhile, Telus reported its net income attributable to common shares more than doubled during its third quarter.

The telecommunications company said it earned $280 million, up 105.9 per cent from the same three-month period in 2023. Earnings per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 was 19 cents compared with nine cents a year earlier.

It reported adjusted net income was $413 million, up 10.7 per cent year-over-year from $373 million in the same quarter last year. Operating revenue and other income for the quarter was $5.1 billion, up 1.8 per cent from the previous year.

Mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.85 in the third quarter, a decrease of $2.09 or 3.4 per cent from a year ago. Telus said the drop was attributable to customers signing up for base rate plans with lower prices, along with a decline in overage and roaming revenues.

It said customers are increasingly adopting unlimited data and Canada-U.S. plans which provide higher and more stable ARPU on a monthly basis.

“In a tough operating environment and relative to peers, we view Q3 results that were in line to slightly better than forecast as the best of the bunch,” said RBC analyst Drew McReynolds in a note.

Scotiabank analyst Maher Yaghi added that “the telecom industry in Canada remains very challenging for all players, however, Telus has been able to face these pressures” and still deliver growth.

The Big 3 telecom providers — which also include Rogers Communications Inc. and BCE Inc. — have frequently stressed that the market has grown more competitive in recent years, especially after the closing of Quebecor Inc.’s purchase of Freedom Mobile in April 2023.

Hailed as a fourth national carrier, Quebecor has invested in enhancements to Freedom’s network while offering more affordable plans as part of a set of commitments it was mandated by Ottawa to agree to.

The cost of telephone services in September was down eight per cent compared with a year earlier, according to Statistics Canada’s most recent inflation report last month.

“I think competition has been and continues to be, I’d say, quite intense in Canada, and we’ve obviously had to just manage our business the way we see fit,” said French.

Asked how long that environment could last, he said that’s out of Telus’ hands.

“What I can control, though, is how we go to market and how we lead with our products,” he said.

“I think the conditions within the market will have to adjust accordingly over time. We’ve continued to focus on digitization, continued to bring our cost structure down to compete, irrespective of the price and the current market conditions.”

Still, Canada’s telecom regulator continues to warn providers about customers facing more charges on their cellphone and internet bills.

On Tuesday, CRTC vice-president of consumer, analytics and strategy Scott Hutton called on providers to ensure they clearly inform their customers of charges such as early cancellation fees.

That followed statements from the regulator in recent weeks cautioning against rising international roaming fees and “surprise” price increases being found on their bills.

Hutton said the CRTC plans to launch public consultations in the coming weeks that will focus “on ensuring that information is clear and consistent, making it easier to compare offers and switch services or providers.”

“The CRTC is concerned with recent trends, which suggest that Canadians may not be benefiting from the full protections of our codes,” he said.

“We will continue to monitor developments and will take further action if our codes are not being followed.”

French said any initiative to boost transparency is a step in the right direction.

“I can’t say we are perfect across the board, but what I can say is we are absolutely taking it under consideration and trying to be the best at communicating with our customers,” he said.

“I think everyone looking in the mirror would say there’s room for improvement.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

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TC Energy cuts cost estimate for Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico

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CALGARY – TC Energy Corp. has lowered the estimated cost of its Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico.

It says it now expects the project to cost between US$3.9 billion and US$4.1 billion compared with its original estimate of US$4.5 billion.

The change came as the company reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of C$1.46 billion or $1.40 per share compared with a loss of C$197 million or 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totalled C$4.08 billion, up from C$3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2023.

TC Energy says its comparable earnings for its latest quarter amounted to C$1.03 per share compared with C$1.00 per share a year earlier.

The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TRP)

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BCE reports Q3 loss on asset impairment charge, cuts revenue guidance

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BCE Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter as it recorded $2.11 billion in asset impairment charges, mainly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties.

The company says its net loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $640 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 75 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

“Bell’s results for the third quarter demonstrate that we are disciplined in our pursuit of profitable growth in an intensely competitive environment,” BCE chief executive Mirko Bibic said in a statement.

“Our focus this quarter, and throughout 2024, has been to attract higher-margin subscribers and reduce costs to help offset short-term revenue impacts from sustained competitive pricing pressures, slow economic growth and a media advertising market that is in transition.”

Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $5.97 billion, down from $6.08 billion in its third quarter of 2023.

BCE also said it now expects its revenue for 2024 to fall about 1.5 per cent compared with earlier guidance for an increase of zero to four per cent.

The company says the change comes as it faces lower-than-anticipated wireless product revenue and sustained pressure on wireless prices.

BCE added 33,111 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, down 76.8 per cent from the same period last year, which was the company’s second-best performance on the metric since 2010.

It says the drop was driven by higher customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — amid greater competitive activity and promotional offer intensity. BCE’s monthly churn rate for the category was 1.28 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent during its previous third quarter.

The company also saw 11.6 per cent fewer gross subscriber activations “due to more targeted promotional offers and mobile device discounting compared to last year.”

Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.26, down 3.4 per cent from $60.28 in the third quarter of the prior year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE)

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