When a vaccine for the virus behind COVID-19 is approved in Canada, Ontario will be tasked with vaccinating more than a third of the country’s population — and some medical experts say “question marks” remain regarding the cost breakdown and roll-out plans.
The province’s ongoing planning work comes as two vaccine candidates pre-ordered by the federal government are now showing promise.
“We do have an entire team at the Ministry of Health that is working on the plan for distribution,” said Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott on Monday.
Transportation, cold storage options, and other logistics will be part of that process. Ethicists will also be at the table, Elliott said, to make sure an eventual vaccine is distributed “fairly and equitably.”
“We will be ready to go as soon as the vaccine is available,” she said.
But despite the optimism, others say key questions remain unanswered, partly due to the complex and unprecedented nature of planning the large-scale roll-out of a brand new vaccine — which will be in high demand, and potentially short-supply, at least initially.
Extra costs after initial purchase
“I would like to hear a little bit more detailed explanation of what the priority groups are going to be,” said Matthew Miller, an associate professor at the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research at McMaster University in Hamilton.
“I think we can understand that there’s still question marks about how much vaccine will be available over which time frame.”
WATCH | Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine appears to be 94.5% effective:
Minister of Public Services and Procurement Anita Anand says the government is putting in place contracts to boost refrigeration capacity to store millions of vaccine doses. 9:11
Health care workers and vulnerable populations are likely candidates for the top of the list, Miller said, though that decision will also have to weigh local issues such as the level of health care services in different communities.
“Definitely the costs, I think, are a question mark right now,” he said. “Because in addition to the direct costs of each vaccine dose that’s required, of course, there’ll be costs associated with the way that these vaccines are actually administered.”
There’s a price tag for every step of the process, from purchasing to refrigeration to administration fees, noted Paul Grootendorst, an associate professor in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto who has researched the economics of the pharmaceutical industry.
Grootendorst also speculated that the price per dose the government is paying — which hasn’t been made public — could fluctuate, depending on the final study findings.
“Let’s suppose that the efficacy turns out to be like 70 per cent … well, how does the price vary?” he questioned.
‘We do have an entire team at the Ministry of Health that is working on the plan for distribution,’ said Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott on Monday. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press)
Feds ‘cannot disclose’ agreement details
In a statement, a spokesperson for Public Services and Procurement Canada said it “cannot disclose details of specific agreements” in order to protect Canada’s negotiating position and commercially sensitive pricing information, as well as to respect confidentiality clauses in the vaccine agreements made to date.
Canadians won’t be paying out of pocket to get vaccinated, but it’s not yet clear what portion of the costs Ontario or other provinces will be shouldering to vaccinate residents.
WATCH | Procurement minister says government is boosting refrigeration capacity for vaccines:
Minister of Public Services and Procurement Anita Anand says the government is putting in place contracts to boost refrigeration capacity to store 33.5 million vaccine doses. 1:16
“The real issue that’s happening in the background is how much of this will be covered by federal money versus how much of it will be covered by provincial money,” Miller said.
“Almost certainly, both federal and provincial governments will pitch in a share. And I’m sure the major negotiations right now are just around what the percentage breakdown ends up being.”
CBC News asked both Public Services and Procurement Canada and Health Canada about the potential federal-provincial cost split but did not receive an answer by deadline.
A spokesperson for Ontario’s Ministry of Health also did not provide any specific details, but said the province is “working with the federal government and other provincial and territorial partners” to plan for the potential delivery of a vaccine.
Costs a ‘drop in the bucket’
Regardless of how the costs shake out, Grootendorst said it’s a small price to pay to bring the virus behind COVID-19 under control.
“If we’re talking about a billion dollars here, or a billion dollars there, that’s all rounding error when it comes to the overall cost of managing a pandemic,” Grootendorst said.
WATCH | With promising vaccine news, residents urged to stay vigilant:
Doug Manuel, epidemiologist at The Ottawa Hospital, says promising news about the effectiveness of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine is welcome, but doesn’t mean residents should let their guard down. 1:13
“It really is a lower order of magnitude, compared to the cost to the economy and to society, mental health, etcetera of having people’s lives sidetracked by this circulating virus.”
Miller agreed, saying the costs are likely just “a drop in the bucket” compared to the economic and societal toll.
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.
