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Vaccine limbo: She got one dose of AstraZeneca, and doesn't know what comes next – CTV News

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TORONTO —
One young woman who received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is stuck in limbo, waiting to find out what will happen with her second dose, now that health authorities have pressed pause on administering that vaccine to those under age 55.

The 21-year-old Toronto-area resident received her first dose of AstraZeneca from a pharmacy. She said she was able to get the vaccine because the pharmacy had extras.

“I was told by this very government that it was safe, effective, and to take the first vaccine I could get,” Emma Hoffer-Weinper told CTVNews.ca in an email on Wednesday.

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She received her first dose on March 17. Less than two weeks later, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization recommended immediately halting use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in people under age 55.

Most provinces were rolling out the AstraZeneca vaccine in older populations, so the number of people under 55 who received a dose of the vaccine is believed to be low.

“There is no information on what to do for us under 55 who have received this vaccine. The number who received it is small, insignificant to many. But we exist,” Hoffer-Weinper added.

She said she feels misled, having initially been told that the vaccine was safe, and the push for everyone to take the first one available to them.

“Be transparent or don’t offer vaccines. We didn’t sign up for a vaccine to be a trial study, we signed up for one that is safe and effective,” she said.

As for next steps, nothing is yet set in stone, but there are two options being considered.

According to Dr. Caroline Quach, chair of NACI, either the AstraZeneca vaccinations will resume in that age group or they will be paused permanently.

“If that is the case, the [second] dose is not due before at least 12 weeks (on label for AZ) and we will have, by then, results from the mixed schedule study that is currently done in the UK where participants are receiving AZ followed by the Pfizer vaccine. This study started recruitment on February 1st,” she told CTVNews.ca in an email on Thursday.

She said at this time, the pause is temporary while Health Canada conducts its enquiry. That doesn’t give people like Hoffer-Weinper a definitive answer. She’ll have to wait to see if Health Canada resumes vaccinations in her age group or pauses indefinitely– and if it’s the latter, what happens next will depend on the British study’s outcome.

While Hoffer-Weinper said she’s had no adverse reactions, she regrets having gotten the AstraZeneca vaccine because of the toll it’s taken on her anxiety.

“It’s in the back of my head every single day that I read the word ‘Pfizer’ or ‘vaccine,’” she told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview on Thursday.

She worries that the confusion over the AstraZeneca vaccine will cause further vaccine hesitancy, especially given the difficulty she had in finding an answer.

“Not everyone wants to research and not everyone knows how to research,” she said. “I spent four years in university and I can’t find information on this, but I can’t even begin to imagine the fear and hesitancy that people will get if they don’t want to, or know how to do that.”

Knowing that she’ll have an answer sooner rather than later has given her some relief, but she wishes she had been told sooner, especially since there seem to be so few people under age 55 who got a dose of AstraZeneca.

“They could have just called us and said ‘don’t worry we’re working on it’, any kind of reassurance, even if they don’t have all the answers,” she said. “Communication is key, I think more so than the actual concrete answers.”

Despite all of the stress and anxiety, she says she hasn’t lost faith in vaccines.

“I think that the vaccines are one of the greatest scientific gifts that we’ll have in our generation,”she said.

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Former crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison

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Bankman-Fried, 32, sentenced for fraud on customers of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange he founded.

Former crypto tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried has been sentenced to 25 years in United States federal prison for stealing $8bn from customers of the now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange he founded.

US District Judge Lewis Kaplan handed down the sentence at a Manhattan court hearing on Thursday after rejecting Bankman-Fried’s claim that FTX customers did not actually lose money and accusing him of lying during his trial testimony.

A jury found Bankman-Fried, 32, guilty on November 2 on seven fraud and conspiracy counts stemming from FTX’s 2022 collapse in what prosecutors have called one of the biggest financial frauds in US history.

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“He knew it was wrong,” Kaplan said of Bankman-Fried before handing down the sentence. “He knew it was criminal. He regrets that he made a very bad bet about the likelihood of getting caught. But he is not going to admit a thing, as is his right.”

Bankman-Fried stood with his hands clasped before him as Kaplan read the sentence.

Kaplan said the sentence reflected “that there is a risk that this man will be in position to do something very bad in the future. And it’s not a trivial risk at all.”

Prior to sentencing, Bankman-Fried stood and apologised. “A lot of people feel really let down. And they were very let down. And I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry about what happened at every stage,” he said.

“My useful life is probably over. It’s been over for a while now, from before my arrest.”

Sam Bankman Fried
Sam Bankman-Fried, centre left, is escorted out of Magistrate Court following a hearing in Nassau, Bahamas, Dec. 19, 2022 [File: Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo]

Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey, reporting from New York, said that Bankman-Fried could have received up to 110 years behind bars for his crimes and that the 25-year sentence was less than the 40-50 years that prosecutors were seeking.

“Given the scale of this crime, one of the largest frauds in history, the judge took a very strong stance but also showed some flexibility… perhaps based on the arguments made by Bankman-Fried’s lawyers and his family that he had always intended to do good”, she said.

Bankman-Fried had billed himself as a proponent of effective altruism – finding the best way to help other people, in particular by donating all or part of one’s wealth to charity rather than, say, volunteering at a soup kitchen.

When the cryptocurrency world lurched into crisis in the spring of 2022, he bought shares in the troubled platform BlockFi and another troubled company, Voyager.

However, prosecutors have said the responsible image he cultivated concealed his years-long embezzlement of customer funds.

“The defendant victimised tens of thousands of people and companies, across several continents, over a period of multiple years. He stole money from customers who entrusted it to him” prosecutors said in a court filing.

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Gas prices in the Thompson Okanagan jumped by 7 cents a litre, days before the next carbon tax increase – Vernon News – Castanet.net

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Some area gas stations are not waiting until April 1 to crank up the price of gas.

On April Fools Day, the federal Liberals will be increasing the controversial carbon tax, which will directly impact the price at the pump.

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However, overnight, several Thompson Okanagan gas stations have already increased the price, selling the liquid gold for 174.9.

In January, gas was selling for a ‘mere’ 143.9 cents a litre. The latest hike is a whopping 31-cent-a-litre increase in just three months.

And the price of petrol is guaranteed to go up again when the carbon tax increase is implemented on Monday.

Kelowna drivers are also paying more at the pump today, with the majority of stations raising the price to 174.9.

As of 9:30 Thursday morning, the Co-op stations on Rutland and Sexsmith roads were at 168.9 as was the Costco gas station.

Several Vernon stations are holding at 167.9.

In Penticton, motorists are also paying more, with the price at the majority of stations hitting the 174.9 mark.

Kamloops drivers are also taking a hit to the wallet with gas in the Thompson community also selling for 174.9.

The Kamloops Costco was the cheapest in the city at 161.9 cents a litre.

Enderby continues to have some of the cheapest gas in the region at 165.9, however the Esso in Tappen has them all beat at 157.9.

Gas in Vancouver has crested the $2 a litre mark, sitting at 202.9 cents a litre.

And as usual, Calgary motorists are paying significantly less than their BC counterparts, filling up for 154.9 cents a litre.

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Calgary breaks all-time record in housing starts but increasing demand keeps inventory low – CBC.ca

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Soaring housing demands in Calgary led to an all-time record for new residential builds last year, but inventory levels of completed and unsold units remained low due to demand outpacing supply.

According to the latest report from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), total housing starts increased by 13 per cent in Calgary, reaching a total of 19,579 units with growth across all dwelling types in the city.

That compares to a decline of 0.5 per cent overall for housing starts in the six major Canadian cities surveyed by CMHC.

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Calgary also had the highest housing starts by population.

“Part of the reason why we think that might have happened is that developers are responding to low vacancies in the rental market,” said Adebola Omosola, a housing economics specialist with CMHC.

“The population of Calgary is still growing, a record number of people moved here last year, and we still expect that to remain at least in the short term.”

Earlier this year, the Calgary Real Estate Board also predicted that demand, especially for rental apartments, wouldn’t let up any time soon. 

Industry can cope with demand, expert says

According to numbers from the report, average construction times were higher in 2023 for all dwelling types except for apartments.

The agency’s report suggests the increase in the number of under-construction residential projects might mean builders are operating at or near full capacity.

However, there’s optimism the construction industry can match the increasing need.

Brian Hahn, CEO of BILD Calgary Region, said despite concerns around about construction costs, project timelines and labour shortages, the industry has kept up with the demand for new builds.

Demand is expected to remain robust, but the construction industry can keep up, according to BILD Calgary region CEO Brian Hahn.
Demand is expected to remain robust, but the construction industry can keep up, according to BILD Calgary Region chief executive officer Brian Hahn. (Shaun Best/Reuters)

“I’ve heard that kind of conversation at the end of 2022 and I heard it in 2023,” Hahn said.

“Yet here we are early in 2024, and January and February were record numbers again.”

Hahn added he believes the current pace of construction will continue for at least the next six months and that the industry is looking at initiatives to attract more people to the trades.

Increase in row house and apartment construction

Construction growth was largely driven by new apartment projects, making up almost half of the housing starts in Calgary in 2023.

The federal housing agency says 9,034 apartment units were started that year, an increase of 17 per cent from the previous year. Of those, about 54 per cent were purpose-built rentals.

Apartments made up around two-thirds of all units under construction, CMHC said, with the total number of units under construction reaching 23,473.

Growth, however, was seen across all dwelling types. Row homes increased by 34 per cent from the previous year while groundbreaking on single-detached homes grew by two per cent.

“Notwithstanding challenges, our members and the industry counterparts that support them managed to produce a record amount of starts and completions,” Hahn said.

“I have little doubt that the industry will do their very best to keep pace at those levels.”

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