The latest on the coronavirus outbreak for July 27
- Coronavirus tracker: Follow the pace of COVID-19 cases, vaccinations in Canada.
- Opposition presses Ontario government for more details on its back-to-school plan.
- Ontario, Quebec concerned about residents being able to travel outside of country with vaccine mixes approved here.
- Moderna application in U.S. for vaccine that can be used on youngest kids may not occur until early 2022.
- Explore: Epidemiologist says New Brunswick decision to lift all restrictions this Friday is too much, too soon … Alberta's new cases, active cases and R-value inch up again … hear the stories of 4 Canadians who CBC Radio's Cost of Living has tracked, as they emerged from COVID-19 lockdowns.
PM touts ample vaccine supply, vows to continue efforts to persuade the hesitant
Canada has enough COVID-19 vaccine doses to fully vaccinate everyone eligible in the country "two months ahead of schedule," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a Moncton, N.B., vaccine clinic this morning.
The arrival of five million doses this week will bring the total to more than 66 million — enough for all 33.2 million Canadians 12 and older. Children under 12 are not yet eligible to receive a vaccine.
"With enough doses for everyone, there's no more excuses not to get your shot," Trudeau said.
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and the government had originally set the end of September as the date when all Canadians who want to be fully vaccinated would be able to get both doses.
While Canada now has enough doses, the next challenge will be to get them to the six million Canadians who have not had a shot.
When asked about his government's plans to persuade the hesitant, Trudeau pointed to government incentive measures — such as the vaccine passport program that would allow the fully vaccinated to travel internationally.
"We're going to continue with ad campaigns, we're going to continue with provinces putting forward various incentive measures, we're looking at international vaccine credentials so that people who are fully vaccinated can travel around the world," he said.
From The National
IN BRIEF
Back-to-school plan overdue, Opposition in Ontario says
The Ontario NDP issued a statement Tuesday morning calling on Premier Doug Ford and his government to release their plan to keep students and their families safe as in-class teaching resumes in September.
The statement comes six weeks out to the first day of classes for most publicly funded schools in the province. It is also the last day adolescents aged 12 to 17, the youngest cohort eligible for COVID-19 vaccines in the province, can get a first dose in time to have both shots before the academic year gets underway.
Roughly 42 per cent of Ontario youth aged 12 to 17 are fully vaccinated, while about 65 per cent have had at least one shot.
"With the six-week countdown now on to the first day of school, parents need to know how the government will keep their children safe while ensuring an uninterrupted, in-person school year complete with extracurriculars," NDP education critic Marit Stiles said in a statement.
Ford said Monday that students would indeed be returning to school for in-person instruction, and that a comprehensive plan would be released soon, although he did not specify when.
Dr. Peter Jüni, scientific director of Ontario's COVID-19 science advisory table, told CBC's Metro Morning on Tuesday that a return to school for kids is "absolutely manageable" if a number of key conditions are met and health measures put in place.
Masking, cohorting and physical distancing whenever possible should remain in place, Jüni said. Ventilation systems need to be "optimized," he added, and portable air purifiers used in any indoor facilities where the ventilation is inadequate on its own.
Despite the comments of Ford and Juni, there are school boards in the province that have offered parents the option of putting their kids in distance learning for the first weeks of the 2021-22 academic year.
Quebec willing to give a 3rd dose to would-be travellers whose vaccination status might not be recognized
At this time in Canada, the guiding recommendations from the country's National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) state that there is "currently no evidence on the need for booster doses of COVID-19 vaccine after the vaccine series is complete."
And the federal government is still recommending against non-essential travel. But the reality is, many Canadians will do so shortly, and some are worried about whether their particular vaccine intake will be recognized to gain entry to a foreign land.
The Quebec government says it will offer extra dose of mRNA vaccine to people who want to travel to countries that don't recognize their vaccination status.
The Health Department said Monday it is making a third dose available because some countries don't recognize people as being fully vaccinated if they have received a mix of COVID-19 vaccines.
A spokesman for the provincial Health Department said in an email Monday a third dose doesn't necessarily provide more protection compared with two doses.
Robert Maranda says there are no studies that assess the impact of receiving three doses of two separate vaccines.
"The person should be properly counselled to be informed of the potential risks associated with this added dose compared to the benefits of the planned trip," he wrote.
Quebec and other provinces have offered residents the option of taking one shot each of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines or an mRNA shot after a first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Provinces offered the mixed option this year as the country grappled with a shifting incoming vaccine supply schedule and concerns about a rare but serious blood clot disorder linked to the AstraZeneca shot.
Meanwhile, Ontario's Health Minister Christine Elliott and Solicitor General Sylvia Jones wrote to Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc and other federal officials on Sunday about the issue.
"We ask the Government of Canada to work with the WHO to update its guidance to international partners that mixing vaccines should be internationally accepted as a complete vaccine regimen," they wrote.
Moderna in talks with U.S. regulators to expand COVID-19 vaccine pediatric study
Moderna is in talks with U.S. regulators to expand the size of an ongoing trial testing its COVID-19 vaccines in children between the ages of five and 11, the drugmaker said on Monday.
Moderna had intended to test the vaccine in about 7,000 children, with some as young as six months. The Cambridge, Mass.-based company said via email it hasn't decided on how many kids might be added.
Earlier in the day, the New York Times reported that U.S. regulators have asked mRNA-based vaccine makers Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna to expand the size of the trial. They claimed the strength of the studies was inadequate to detect the rare side-effects myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle and pericarditis, an inflammation of the lining around the heart, the report said.
The announcement comes as U.S. COVID-19 cases are rising and schools prepare to welcome students back to classrooms. Canadian parents are also wondering when vaccines might receive emergency authorization for use in children under 12.
Moderna expects to have a package that supports authorization late in 2021 or early 2022, a company spokesperson told Reuters.
Pfizer said on Monday that if it makes changes to its vaccine testing in children, it will provide an update then. The New York-based company is testing its vaccine, developed with Germany's BioNTech, in up to 4,500 children in the United States and Europe.
Pfizer has previously said it expects to apply in September for children ages five through 11. Results for two younger age groups that began testing a little later should be available by October or November, according to the company.
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With files from Reuters, The Canadian Press, The Associated Press