NORTH BAY —
On Nov. 19, Health Canada announced the approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech two-dose COVID-19 vaccine for children between five and 11-years-old, allowing children in that age group to be vaccinated with a dosage that is one third the size that has been offered to those aged 12 and older.
To date, it is the only COVID-19 vaccine approved for that age group. Health Canada says clinical trials showed that lower doses provided good protection, with no safety issues detected.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) recommends that second doses be given at least eight weeks after the first. Children who turn 12 before their second dose, meanwhile, may receive an adult dose.
As a precaution, Health Canada advises that children not receive the vaccine within 14 days of other vaccines, such the flu vaccine, in order to monitor any side effects from either the COVID-19 or another vaccine.
ELIGIBILITY AND ROLL OUT PLANS BY PROVINCE AND TERRITORY
British Columbia: Parents are able to register their child for a COVID-19 vaccine using the province’s Get Vaccinated system. As of Nov. 19, officials said more than 75,000 children had been registered. The B.C. Centre for Disease Control says children who are four-years-old will only be able to get vaccinated after their fifth birthday. The vaccines are free and children do not need B.C. Care Cards to receive them. First and second doses for children aged five to 11 will be offered eight weeks apart, an FAQ from ImmunizeBC says. B.C. also has made material, including a comic, available to parents for talking to their child about getting vaccinated. Consent from one parent or guardian is required.
Alberta: COVID-19 vaccine appointments for children aged five to 11 in Alberta are available as of Nov. 24 following the receipt of more than 394,000 doses. Doses will be administered at more than 120 Alberta Health Services vaccination clinics and four pharmacies across the province, with more than 390,000 Albertans aged five to 11 able to get vaccinated as early as Nov. 26, a government press release said. Although a number of walk-in vaccine clinics are available, the province says walk-in appointments are not available for children aged five to 11. Parents and guardians are encouraged to talk to their pediatrician or family physician about getting their children immunized against COVID-19. The province also has created an online game where users can take down “COVID-zilla” while learning about COVID-19 immunization.
Saskatchewan: Childhood vaccination booking for Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) clinics became available on Nov. 23. Parent or guardian consent will be required, but only one parent is needed. The Saskatchewan government says more than 112,000 doses of the children’s COVID-19 vaccine are expected in the province, enough to provide every child in the five to 11 age group with a first dose. The SHA will offer the pediatric vaccine in 141 communities. Clinics also will be offered in more than 100 schools, along with specialized clinics for children with additional needs, such as autism and those in hospital, and vaccinations from Indigenous Services Canada, Northern Inter-Tribal Health Authority and participating pharmacies. Although NACI has recommended an eight-week interval between doses, the province says Saskatchewan families may choose to receive the second dose as early as 21 days after the first.
Manitoba: Manitoba has allowed parents and caregivers to book appointments online or by phone for children aged five to 11 to receive the Pfizer vaccine as of Nov. 22. Children must be five-years-old at the time the appointment is booked. Manitoba’s Vaccine Implementation Task Force has said vaccines for kids aged five to 11 will be available at pharmacies, physician clinics, urban Indigenous clinics and vaccine clinics. Manitoba also is recommending individuals receive their second dose of vaccine eight weeks after the first. The province has created an interactive map, called the Vaccine Finder, showing where immunization sites in Manitoba are located.
Ontario: Ontario families were able to start booking appointments for their children as of Nov. 23. Appointments can be booked online, by phone, through local public health units, participating pharmacies and select primary care providers. Children must be turning five-years-old by the end of 2021 to be eligible and doses will be offered at least eight weeks apart. Ontario is expected to receive 1,076,000 doses of the pediatric COVID-19 vaccine from the federal government. About one million children are eligible to get the shot in the province. Those with an appointment are asked to bring their booking confirmation code or email, an Ontario health card or a letter from their school, medical provider or faith leader for those without a health card, an immunization record if available, an allergy form if needed, a mask and a support person if necessary. Anyone getting the COVID-19 vaccine in Ontario, including children and youth, must provide informed consent indicating they understand what the vaccine involves, why it is recommended, and the risks and benefits of getting it or not. Parents or “substitute decision makers” for children aged five to 11 will, for the most part, need to provide consent on behalf of the child at the time of the appointment before a vaccine is given, the province says.
Quebec: Vaccine appointments for children aged five to 11 are open, with residents able to book online on the Clic-Santé website. The first vaccine appointments started Nov. 24 and vaccinations at schools are slated to begin Nov. 29. Anyone between five and 17 years of age can be vaccinated at a clinic with or without an appointment. Vaccinations for children and youth are being done in vaccination centres or at school, but not in pharmacies. Children 13-years-old and younger need consent from a parent or legal guardian in order to be vaccinated, while adolescents 14-years-old and older can give their own consent.
New Brunswick: Vaccination appointments for children aged five to 11, offered through the Vitalité and Horizon health networks, can be made online as of Nov. 23. Anyone aged five, turning five this year, or older is eligible to get the vaccine. About 54,500 children are eligible to receive it, according to the province. Under the New Brunswick Medical Consent of Minors Act, children can give consent as a mature minor to receive health care, like the vaccine. While they do not require parental consent under certain conditions, the province says it is “preferred” that parents or legal guardians consent to immunizations for minors younger than 16.
Nova Scotia: Nova Scotia announced Nov. 24 it expects vaccines for children aged five and 11 to arrive this week, with parents and guardians expected to be able to start booking appointments soon. Pharmacies and the IWK Health Centre in Halifax will be the province’s main vaccinators. Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Robert Strang, says they will be ready to start giving children vaccines by Dec. 2. Children will need two doses of vaccine, administered at least eight weeks apart. A child who turns 12 during that eight-week period may receive an adolescent or adult dose for their second. The province has a map available showing where vaccination clinics are located.
Prince Edward Island: Vaccinations will initially be offered at immunization clinics on dedicated dates and times. Starting in January 2022, in-school vaccinations will be offered to students in grades four, five and six. Eligible students in other grades will need to be vaccinated at a COVID-19 immunization clinic. An eight-week interval between doses is recommended. The province says, as with all immunizations, a parent or guardian must provide signed consent before their child can be vaccinated. Children who are 11-years-old can receive the adult version of their second dose if they turn 12 within the recommended eight-week interval.
Newfoundland and Labrador: The province expects to have vaccines arrive by Nov. 26, with the immunization campaign for children beginning “within days.” Appointments can be booked on the province’s Get the Shot webpage. Vaccines also are expected to be offered in schools. It is recommended that the second dose be booked at least eight weeks after the first. Children who receive a pediatric dose will receive the adult dose for their second vaccine if they turn 12-years-old during the eight-week period. Signed consent from a parent or guardian will be required.
Northwest Territories: The Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority says while the Pfizer vaccine has been approved for children aged five to 11, clinics are not yet scheduled and residents are asked not to book appointments until then. The territory expects to receive its vaccine allotment before the end of November. Eligibility for the five to 11 age group will be based on age at the time of appointment and not the year the individual was born.
Nunavut: Nunavut has no readily available information on their government websites on vaccinations for children aged five to 11.
VACCINES AND CHILDREN
Although children and youth are less likely to get seriously ill from COVID-19, Health Canada says they can still spread it to others, experience long-term effects from infection or develop a rare but serious complication called multisystem inflammatory syndrome.
Common side effects from the COVID-19 vaccine include redness, soreness and swelling at the injection site, along with more general symptoms such as chills, fatigue, joint pain, headache, mild fever and muscle aches.
Myocarditis and pericarditis — inflammation of the heart muscle and lining around the heart respectively — have been reported following vaccination with mRNA COVID-19 vaccines but appear to occur more often in adolescents and young adults, males, following a second dose and, while mild, typically shortly after vaccination, Health Canada says.
A statement in October from the Council of Chief Medical Officers of Health also noted that the risk of cardiac complications, including myocarditis, substantially increases following COVID-19 infection compared to after vaccination.
MONTREAL – Travel company Transat AT Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year earlier as its revenue edged lower.
The parent company of Air Transat says it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31.
The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue in what was the company’s third quarter totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
Transat chief executive Annick Guérard says demand for leisure travel remains healthy, as evidenced by higher traffic, but consumers are increasingly price conscious given the current economic uncertainty.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Dollarama Inc.’s food aisles may have expanded far beyond sweet treats or piles of gum by the checkout counter in recent years, but its chief executive maintains his company is “not in the grocery business,” even if it’s keeping an eye on the sector.
“It’s just one small part of our store,” Neil Rossy told analysts on a Wednesday call, where he was questioned about the company’s food merchandise and rivals playing in the same space.
“We will keep an eye on all retailers — like all retailers keep an eye on us — to make sure that we’re competitive and we understand what’s out there.”
Over the last decade and as consumers have more recently sought deals, Dollarama’s food merchandise has expanded to include bread and pantry staples like cereal, rice and pasta sold at prices on par or below supermarkets.
However, the competition in the discount segment of the market Dollarama operates in intensified recently when the country’s biggest grocery chain began piloting a new ultra-discount store.
The No Name stores being tested by Loblaw Cos. Ltd. in Windsor, St. Catharines and Brockville, Ont., are billed as 20 per cent cheaper than discount retail competitors including No Frills. The grocery giant is able to offer such cost savings by relying on a smaller store footprint, fewer chilled products and a hearty range of No Name merchandise.
Though Rossy brushed off notions that his company is a supermarket challenger, grocers aren’t off his radar.
“All retailers in Canada are realistic about the fact that everyone is everyone’s competition on any given item or category,” he said.
Rossy declined to reveal how much of the chain’s sales would overlap with Loblaw or the food category, arguing the vast variety of items Dollarama sells is its strength rather than its grocery products alone.
“What makes Dollarama Dollarama is a very wide assortment of different departments that somewhat represent the old five-and-dime local convenience store,” he said.
The breadth of Dollarama’s offerings helped carry the company to a second-quarter profit of $285.9 million, up from $245.8 million in the same quarter last year as its sales rose 7.4 per cent.
The retailer said Wednesday the profit amounted to $1.02 per diluted share for the 13-week period ended July 28, up from 86 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
The period the quarter covers includes the start of summer, when Rossy said the weather was “terrible.”
“The weather got slightly better towards the end of the summer and our sales certainly increased, but not enough to make up for the season’s horrible start,” he said.
Sales totalled $1.56 billion for the quarter, up from $1.46 billion in the same quarter last year.
Comparable store sales, a key metric for retailers, increased 4.7 per cent, while the average transaction was down2.2 per cent and traffic was up seven per cent, RBC analyst Irene Nattel pointed out.
She told investors in a note that the numbers reflect “solid demand as cautious consumers focus on core consumables and everyday essentials.”
Analysts have attributed such behaviour to interest rates that have been slow to drop and high prices of key consumer goods, which are weighing on household budgets.
To cope, many Canadians have spent more time seeking deals, trading down to more affordable brands and forgoing small luxuries they would treat themselves to in better economic times.
“When people feel squeezed, they tend to shy away from discretionary, focus on the basics,” Rossy said. “When people are feeling good about their wallet, they tend to be more lax about the basics and more willing to spend on discretionary.”
The current economic situation has drawn in not just the average Canadian looking to save a buck or two, but also wealthier consumers.
“When the entire economy is feeling slightly squeezed, we get more consumers who might not have to or want to shop at a Dollarama generally or who enjoy shopping at a Dollarama but have the luxury of not having to worry about the price in some other store that they happen to be standing in that has those goods,” Rossy said.
“Well, when times are tougher, they’ll consider the extra five minutes to go to the store next door.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
TORONTO – The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has ordered TD Bank Group to pay US$28 million for repeatedly sharing inaccurate, negative information about its customers to consumer reporting companies.
The agency says TD has to pay US$7.76 million in total to tens of thousands of victims of its illegal actions, along with a US$20 million civil penalty.
It says TD shared information that contained systemic errors about credit card and bank deposit accounts to consumer reporting companies, which can include credit reports as well as screening reports for tenants and employees and other background checks.
CFPB director Rohit Chopra says in a statement that TD threatened the consumer reports of customers with fraudulent information then “barely lifted a finger to fix it,” and that regulators will need to “focus major attention” on TD Bank to change its course.
TD says in a statement it self-identified these issues and proactively worked to improve its practices, and that it is committed to delivering on its responsibilities to its customers.
The bank also faces scrutiny in the U.S. over its anti-money laundering program where it expects to pay more than US$3 billion in monetary penalties to resolve.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
