TORONTO —
Following news that the United Kingdom has authorized a COVID-19 vaccine for use, questions are emerging about what the new approval could mean for other countries looking to secure a vaccine candidate in the race against the novel coronavirus.
Britain gave the green light to the COVID-19 vaccine candidate from American drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech on Wednesday and expects to start its first vaccinations in the country within days.
Canada’s Minister of Health Patty Hajdu took to Twitter on Wednesday to say that the U.K.’s approval of the Pfizer vaccine is “encouraging” and that Health Canada will complete its review of the candidate “soon.” She did not provide further details.
“Making sure a COVID-19 vaccine is safe before approving it is Health Canada’s priority, and when a vaccine is ready, Canada will be ready,” Hajdu tweeted.
Chief medical advisor at Health Canada Dr. Supriya Sharma said at a public briefing on Nov. 26 that Canada plans to make a decision on the Pfizer vaccine around the same time that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency do.
Those decisions are expected to be made sometime in December, with FDA having set a meeting on Dec. 10 during which they will make a final call on the vaccine.
However, Health Canada has its own approval processes, designed to ensure vaccines are safe and effective.
Sharma said Canada’s review of Pfizer’s vaccine, which began on Oct.3, is the most advanced out of the current candidates, but still ongoing.
“While significant time and resources are being devoted to expediting the scientific review of COVID-19 vaccines, the decision on whether they will be authorized will ultimately depend on assessment of the data, including the complete information from clinical trials, which is still coming in,” Sharma said.
Sharma said Canada “will only authorize a vaccine if its benefits clearly outweigh its risks.”
“While we are working hard to give Canadians access to COVID-19 vaccines as quickly as possible, we will not compromise our safety, efficacy and quality standards. Protecting the health and safety of Canadians is our top priority,” Sharma said.
While Pfizer’s vaccine may be furthest ahead in Canada’s review process, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Janssen’s vaccine candidates have also been submitted to Health Canada for approval.
Pfizer announced in November that results of clinical trials that showed its COVID-19 vaccine was 95 per cent effective and offered “significant protection” for older people. However, the candidate needs to be kept at -70 C during transportation and storage to remain effective, posing logistical problems.
VACCINE FAST-TRACKING
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Abdu Sharkawy told CTV’s Your Morning on Wednesday that news of Britain’s approving the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is “exciting.” He expects other vaccine candidates to be approved in Western countries in the coming weeks.
Sharkawy said the approval adds to the “sense of optimism” around a successful coronavirus vaccine.
“If the data has been looked at very carefully by one regulatory body, like the MHRA in the U.K., then certainly the FDA and Health Canada should be able to do the same thing,” Sharkawy said
“I would be surprised if Health Canada did not follow suit with approval very, very soon,” he added.
However, in a statement to CTV News, Pfizer Canada said on Wednesday that “an approval in one jurisdiction does not equate to an approval in another.”
Despite being approved in the U.K., infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch says Pfizer’s vaccine candidate won’t land on Canadian soil anytime sooner.
Bogoch told CTV News Channel on Wednesday that regulatory bodies are “working at different paces” and said the U.K.’s approval does not mean that Health Canada should rush its own decision.
“I really hope that they do their job in a very fair manner without any external pressure, and I really hope that it doesn’t push them to do their job faster,” Bogoch said. “If it’s a day, a week, a couple of weeks longer, [that’s] fine, as long as they do a thorough job and ensure that Canadians get access to safe vaccines that are effective.”
Bogoch explained that Health Canada not only has to look at the data from a vaccine’s clinical trials, but the agency also has to consider the manufacturing process of that vaccine.
Bogoch said it is likely that Health Canada will approve the Pfizer vaccine in the “coming weeks.” However, once the vaccine arrives in Canada, Bogoch said the country needs to have programs already in place to ensure the shots are immediately rolled out.
“It’s not quite clear when the vaccine will land on our doorstep but when it does, we better work really, really hard right now to sort out how we’re going to ship this,” Bogoch said, adding that Pfizer’s temperature requirements do pose a challenge.
“This is that one where it requires [-70 C] freezing, so the logistics of getting this around the country are hard. I hope that process is underway because we might get access to this sooner than we think,” he said.
VACCINE ROLLOUT
Canada has secured access to a total of 414 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from different sources including 76 million from Pfizer, but just four million of those are expected to land in the country by the end of March.
Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Howard Njoo said on Nov. 26 that while there will be early prioritization of who gets vaccinated based on the limited initial supply, Canada will have enough doses to “provide access to every Canadian who wants one in 2021.”
However, Kerry Bowman, a bioethicist and assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s faculty of medicine, says he is concerned that vaccine access may be limited throughout the next year if a proper rollout plan is not in place.
Bowman told CTV News Channel on Wednesday that there is “a lot of confusion and ambiguity” as to when provincial health authorities will have a COVID-19 vaccine so inoculations can begin.
Bowman’s remarks come on the heels of weeks of moving targets and changes in messaging from federal and provincial officials about Canada’s vaccine standing and timelines.
“So many of the people in Canada and the provinces, if they’re going to be prepared for this they do need dates and they do need numbers. How do you prepare without that?” Bowman said.
While he acknowledges that administering a vaccine nationally “isn’t easy,” he said there needs to be more transparency from government officials about current rollout plans to ensure that Canadians aren’t hesitant to get vaccinated once they can.
“We really, really need to build trust with Canadians right now so that when the vaccine is available that people are trusting of that,” Bowman said.
Speaking virtually at the Canadian Immunization Conference, Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said Canada’s vaccine rollout requires a “complex response” since the country has invested in a range of vaccine candidates that all have their own needs.
Tam said on Wednesday that Canada has ordered 126 freezers with various temperature capabilities for the vaccine, many of which she says have already been delivered.
She acknowledged that it is “very important” to be transparent with Canadians about the status of vaccine candidates and their subsequential rollout.
“It is important for all of us to get knowledgeable about the process of development and that the regulatory process is rigorous and that we would only provide vaccines that have gone through safety evaluations and efficacy evaluations,” Tam said.
Tam said the federal government will be using “behavioural insights” and other strategies such as sharing testimonials and using social media influencers to help address misinformation and “boost vaccine confidence among the population.”
However, Tam maintained that Canada will only approve a COVID-19 vaccine after thorough reviews are completed.
“We still have to look at the clinical trial results in depth. These initial vaccine candidates have reported good efficacy and provide hope for a new way forward in not just this pandemic, but for future,” Tam said.
EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.
Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.
Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.
Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.
Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.
RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.
Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.
“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.
But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.
“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.
While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.
Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.
The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.
It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.
Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.
The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, have broken off without an agreement following 15 hours of talks.
Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they stayed at the bargaining table with help from a mediator until 2 a.m. Friday and made “some progress.”
However, he says the union negotiators didn’t get an offer that they could recommend to the membership.
McCann says that in some ways they are close to an agreement, but in other areas they are “miles apart.”
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people who can’t navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last week, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
McCann asks HandyDART users to be “patient,” since they are trying to get not only a fair contract for workers but also a better service for customers.
He says it’s unclear when the talks will resume, but he hopes next week at the latest.
The employer, Transdev, didn’t reply to an interview request before publication.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
