© Evan Mitsui/CBC
A care home worker gets the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto on Dec. 22, 2020. New preliminary research offers early clues that at least one coronavirus vaccine may lead to lower viral loads, suggesting it might be harder for someone to spread the virus if they get infected post-vaccination.
Real-world findings are starting to back expectations for the level of protection provided by several leading coronavirus vaccines, but there’s still a burning question among scientists: Could the shots actually reduce virus transmission as well?
New research out of Israel offers early clues that at least one vaccine — the mRNA-based option from Pfizer-BioNTech, which is also being used here in Canada — may lead to lower viral loads, suggesting it might be harder for someone to spread the virus if they get infected post-vaccination.
In a study released publicly on Monday as an unpublished, non-peer-reviewed preprint, a team of researchers from the Israel Institute of Technology, Tel Aviv University and Maccabi Healthcare Services found the viral load was reduced four-fold for infections that occur 12 to 28 days after a first dose of the vaccine.
“These reduced viral loads hint to lower infectiousness, further contributing to vaccine impact on virus spread,” the researchers wrote.
Virologist Jason Kindrachuk, an assistant professor in the department of medical microbiology at the University of Manitoba, said it’s been a waiting game to figure out whether the protection from illness offered by mRNA vaccines might also curb transmission — a key tool for winding down the pandemic.
“So the data from this, I think, is important,” he said. “It doesn’t answer all the questions, but it starts to tell us that there actually might be some added benefit to these vaccines beyond just reducing severe disease.”
Toronto-based infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch, a member of Ontario’s vaccine task force, agreed these early findings — which still require peer-review — aren’t a scientific “home run,” but do offer hope in the fight against COVID-19.
“This would point in the direction that people who have been vaccinated, who are still infected, may be less likely to transmit starting at about 12 days after their vaccine,” he said.
Israel is among the world leaders for COVID-19 vaccination rates, with Maccabi Healthcare Services vaccinating more than 650,000 people by Jan. 25, the paper noted, giving the researchers a large pool of data compared to what exists so far in many other countries.
The team analyzed COVID-19 test results from roughly 2,900 people between the ages of 16 and 89, comparing the cycle threshold values of post-vaccination infections after a first dose with those of positive tests from unvaccinated patients.
So, what are cycle threshold values, and how does that potentially tie to viral loads and virus transmission?
Standard polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for COVID-19 identify the viral infection by amplifying the virus’s RNA until it hits a level where it can be detected by the test. Multiple rounds of amplification may be required — and the cycle threshold value refers to the number of rounds needed to spot the virus.
© Evan Mitsui/CBC
New preliminary research offers early clues that at least one coronavirus vaccine may lead to lower viral loads, suggesting it might be harder for someone to spread the virus if they get infected post-vaccination.
“If you can detect the virus with very few cycles, there’s probably a lot of virus there,” Bogoch explained. “If you need to keep looking and looking and looking and looking for it, it might be there — it’s just a lot harder to find evidence of the virus genetic material.”
A higher cycle threshold, then, usually means there’s less virus genetic material present, which usually translates to people being less contagious, he said.
Based on an analysis comparing post-vaccination test results up to Day 11 to the unvaccinated control group, the Israeli researchers found “no significant difference” in the distribution of cycle threshold values for several viral genes.
That changed by 12 days after vaccination, with the team finding a “significant” increase in cycle thresholds up to 28 days later.
© Maggie MacPherson/CBC
Toronto-based infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch, a member of Ontario’s vaccine task force, agrees these early findings — which still require peer-review — offer some hope in the fight against COVID-19.
The result suggests infections occurring 12 days or longer following just one vaccine dose have “significantly reduced viral loads, potentially affecting viral shedding and contagiousness as well as severity of the disease,” the team concluded.
It’s a finding that appears to mimic the efficacy of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in its clinical trials, which offered some early protection starting 12 days after the first dose and fully kicks in a week after the second shot, with a reported efficacy of around 95 per cent.
The observational study was not a randomized controlled trial — meaning researchers couldn’t conclude a direct cause-and-effect relationship — and has not yet been published in a scientific journal. The research also has notable limitations, its authors acknowledged.
For one, the group of vaccinated individuals may differ in key ways from the demographically matched control group, such as their general health. The study also didn’t account for variants of the virus that may be associated with different viral loads, the team wrote.
Indeed, those variants are already proving to be roadblocks in the fight against COVID-19, with concerns ranging from higher transmissibility to reduced vaccine efficacy, including concern in South Africa and beyond after a small and yet-to-be-published study suggested the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine offered minimal protection against mild infection from the country’s now-dominant B1351 variant.
With those concerns in mind, experts who spoke with CBC News about the Israeli study stressed that more research is needed to back up the results on a broader scale, and among diverse populations, before being used to fuel policy changes or current approaches to vaccination efforts.
“The data needs to be reviewed by experts and confirmed that it stands up to the quality that we would want to make a conclusion,” said vaccinologist Alyson Kelvin, an assistant professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax who works with Canadian vaccine developer VIDO-InterVac in Saskatoon.
Even so, Kelvin said the data appeared to be treated with the necessary caution, and offers “promising evidence,” while Kindrachuk remains optimistic as well that the findings could prove a useful starting point.
“While we still have to have people using masks, and while we still have to have people distanced, the vaccines may actually also be able to reduce transmission,” he said.
“So, those trends that we’re hoping to see, in regards to trying to curb community transmission for SARS-CoV-2, may be accelerated with a vaccine — and that will hopefully help us get out of this a little bit sooner.”
Alberta’s minister of forestry and parks said the RCMP national security investigation team is involved in a probe looking into what caused a pipeline to rupture and catch fire west of Edmonton earlier this week.
On Tuesday, a wildfire was sparked following a natural gas pipeline rupture about 40 kilometres northwest of Edson, Alta. The fire has since been deemed under control.
“We have no indication of any kind of cause on that fire yet; the investigation is happening,” Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen said at a wildfire-related news conference Thursday morning. “The national security investigation team of the RCMP are investigating the cause.
“My understanding, since the cause was unknown, that’s standard practice for them to come in on anything that’s unknown.”
RCMP said as of Tuesday, initial reports had shown no signs of foul play.
Global News has reached out to the RCMP for more information. On its website, the RCMP states it has a wide range of national security-related mandates and responsibilities. It says its national security criminal investigations program involves critical infrastructure protection and critical incident management.
Officials say the investigation into what caused the TC Energy pipeline to break could take months or even years.
The Canada Energy Regulator had investigators on site on Wednesday. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is also investigating the incident.
The rupture sparked a blaze that could be seen for kilometres, sending large flames and plumes of smoke into the air.
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No injuries were reported, and officials said the fire was never a threat to any surrounding communities.
“I want to commend the Yellowhead County Fire Department, industry and our wildfire team for the timely manner that this fire was brought under control,” Loewen said Thursday.
“Fast information sharing between all parties facilitated an effective wildfire response.”
The wildfire sparked by the pipeline rupture is located about 28 kilometres northeast of Obed Lake. More than 30 firefighters were expected to be in the area Thursday to continue working on the wildfire.
— with files from The Canadian Press
— more to come…
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
A St. John’s woman says she won’t be paying many more visits to Tim Hortons, after an email from the coffee chain led her to believe that she’d won a new boat — when she hadn’t won anything at all.
“I go to Tim’s quite a lot, seven days a week. I’m afraid now that’s going to change to no days a week,” Carol Evans told CBC News on Thursday.
Evans said she received an email from Tim Hortons on Wednesday afternoon while on a break from her work as an licensed practical nurse.
The email recapped the prizes she’d won in the annual Roll Up the Rim to Win contest, but there was one extra prize included — a brand new boat and trailer, valued at about $55,000.
Unfortunately, the excitement was over by the time she got home from work.
“I was just so excited, really excited. I thought I really won a boat and a trailer, $55,000 worth, and to find out at five to six, I had an email from them come in telling me it was a technical error,” she said.
“I don’t get my boat and I don’t get my trailer.”
Carol Evans of St. John’s was elated when she got an email from Tim Hortons saying she won $55,000 worth of prizes. Another email from the coffee giant a few hours later, telling her it was an error, had her crushed — and fuming.
Evans said her win was the talk of her co-workers.
“I work with about a hundred people in the run of a day, and more than that outside the OR, and everybody was so happy for me. They couldn’t believe it, I finally won something in my life,” she said.
“But to find out a few hours later I didn’t, it was disappointing, very disappointing.… I cried, it was so sad.”
Although she may not have taken it out on the water, Evans said winning would have meant a lot to her, like helping fund her retirement after more than five decades in nursing.
“I could have sold the boat and trailer and had some money, paid off some bills, probably could have, who knows, retired after 55 years of work,” she said.
In an emailed statement to CBC News on Thursday, Tim Hortons said the message was meant to show what each customer won over the course of the contest — and the boat was included by mistake.
“We developed a Roll Up To Win recap email message with the best intentions of giving our guests a fun overview of their 2024 play history.
“Unfortunately there was a human error that resulted in some guests receiving some incorrect information in their recap message.”
The company didn’t disclose how many people across the country received the email, but CBC News spoke to another person in western Newfoundland who got it.
Others in Edmonton, Hamilton and Brampton, Ont., were also told they’d won the boat.
By Wednesday afternoon, a Facebook group had formed with more than 200 people expressing outrage about the mistake and threatening to file lawsuits.
Tim Hortons sent the affected customers a letter, telling them to disregard that winning email and that it was sent as a result of “technical errors.”
“Unfortunately, some prizes that you did not win may have been included in the recap email you received. If this was the case, today’s email does not mean that you won those prizes,” the letter read.
“We apologize for the frustration this has caused and for not living up to our high standards.”
It’s a familiar story for Tim’s, however, as last year, its app mistakenly informed users they’d won $10,000.
Evans said two years of big mistakes just isn’t fair. She’d like to see Tim Hortons move away from the Roll Up to Win smartphone app and back to paper cups.
“It’s not fair to the public who spend their hard-earned money to go into Tim’s and buy their coffee every day, buy their lunch, and then think they won a prize and all of a sudden you learn, three hours later, you didn’t win a prize, and it’s not fair.”
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The new regulations will take effect in Bowen Island, Tofino, Pemberton and 14 other communities on Nov. 1
Published Apr 18, 2024 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 5 minute read
With less than two weeks before B.C.’s short-term rental restrictions take effect, visitors staying at an Airbnb, Vrbo or other short-term rental homes are told to check with their hosts to make sure they are not staying in illegal accommodations.
Guests should ask hosts if they are compliant with the new rules, said B.C.’s housing minister, even as he reassured guests they won’t be on the hook.
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“The responsibility to comply with the rules fall with the hosts and the short-term rental platforms,” said Ravi Kahlon at a news conference with Premier David Eby in Langley on Thursday. “We encourage people to continue to explore beautiful British Columbia, and stay in legal short-term rental accommodations.”The new regulations set to take effect on May 1 would restrict short-term rentals to principal residences and either a secondary suite or a laneway home/garden suite on the property.
They apply to more than 60 B.C. communities with populations of more than 10,000 people, as well as 17 smaller communities, including Bowen Island, Tofino, Osoyoos, Pemberton, and Gabriola Island, which have decided to opt in. For these communities, the rules will take effect on Nov. 1.
The new legislation carries penalties of $500 to $5,000 a day per infraction for hosts and reach as high as $10,000 a day for platforms.
Eby said the province’s principal residence requirement is meant to crack down on speculators while allowing homeowners to rent out spaces in their principal residences if they choose to do so.
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He acknowledged the restrictions could put some property owners’ investment and retirement plans into disarray, but made no apologies, saying people with money to invest should put their money elsewhere.
“Do not compete with individuals and families who are looking for place to live with your investment dollars,” Eby said, adding the government will “tilt the deck every single time toward that family.”
The government has set up a provincial enforcement unit, currently staffed by four people, to conduct investigations into alleged non-compliant units.
The enforcement will be largely done digitally and includes the use of a short-term rental data portal that’ll help local governments monitor and enforce regulations.
Municipalities with their own short-term rental restrictions can upload non-compliant properties to the portal, said Kahlon. Platforms will have five days to verify whether the units are on their sites. Local governments without short-term rental licensing can report properties they believe are not compliant.
The platforms will be required to remove non-compliant listings at the request of local or the provincial governments and provide the province with a monthly update of short-term listings on their sites, said Kahlon.
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Companies such as Expedia and Booking.com are working to get ready for the new rules, and he’s hopeful other platforms will follow suit by May 1.
Airbnb said it has been in discussions with the provincial government for months and plans to comply with the new rules, but predicts they will harm the province’s tourism sector by taking extra income away from residents and limiting accommodation options for people, while doing little to improve the housing crunch for residents.
“They’re doing this because they say there’s going to be an impact on housing, that this will free up more housing for people,” said Nathan Rotman, Airbnb’s policy lead in Canada. “That is just not true.”
Despite several years of Airbnb restrictions in Vancouver, for example, rents have gone up while vacancies stayed low, he said.
Kahlon said the pending rules are already having a positive impact on housing availability with short-term rentals being converted to long-term use or being put up for sale.
In March, more than 19,000 entire homes in B.C. were listed as short-term rentals for most of the year, said the province. Even if half of those units are returned to the long-term market, that’ll make a “substantial difference” in communities, said Kahlon.
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Eby said there has been a “massive upswing” in hotel construction in key tourist areas as an unintended result of the new policies.
Bowen Island, a small community of 4,200 whose council voted in March to opt into the province’s short-term rental regulations, has seen increased pressure from tourists and housing demand in recent years.
The decision was council’s way “to balance what is appropriate use in residentially-zoned neighbourhoods while still allowing property owners to still do what they want with their properties,” said Mayor Andrew Leonard.
The principal residence requirement still allows for Airbnb and other short-term rentals on the island, he pointed out. “The vast majority of short-term rental operations are unaffected. This just keeps it in the homes of homeowners instead of speculators.”
Some communities, including Parksville’s Resort Drive area, were granted an exemption last month under the province’s exemption for strata hotel or motels. The area was purpose-built as tourism accommodation more than two decades ago.
The new legislation is being challenged in B.C. Supreme Court by Victoria-based groups and the Westcoast Association for Property Rights, who are calling for a review of the new rules and compensation for financial losses.
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According to Airbnb, Airbnb bookings and related spending generated around $2.5 billion in B.C. in 2023 and created 25,000 jobs.
The company says that for every $100 spent on an Airbnb booking, guests also spent about $229 on other travel spending.
More than three quarters of hosts polled by the company say they use their Airbnb earnings to cover rising costs of living, especially housing.
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