Staff at Toronto's city-run vaccination clinics have been subjected to verbal attacks, aggressive behaviour and displays of anger from clients demanding specific brands of COVID-19 vaccines, officials say.
The incidents in recent days are inappropriate and won't be tolerated by clinic management and security staff, who will remove those individuals, said Fire Chief Matthew Pegg, head of emergency services, at a news conference Wednesday morning.
While both Pfizer and Moderna are being offered at city-run clinics, the former is being reserved for those ages 12 to 17, said Pegg.
"Our clinic staff have no ability to determine or control the allocation of vaccines that are provided to us," Pegg said. "Both our city clinic staff and our Team Toronto partner staff are giving their all, seven days a week to get Toronto vaccinated as soon as possible."
WATCH | Clinic staff face harassment from clients over preferred vaccine, Pegg says:
Toronto Fire Chief and head of Toronto’s Emergency Management Matthew Pegg said in recent days, COVID-19 vaccine clinic staff have been subjected to "inappropriate behaviour" from patients demanding a certain brand of vaccine. Pegg said there is zero tolerance for anyone who displays aggressive behaviour toward clinic staff. 1:17
Mayor John Tory said city staff who've tried to help people experiencing homelessness and enforce alcohol and fireworks bylaws have been treated with "contempt" and, in some occasions, followed home, threatened and abused.
"Public servants should not be mistreated," Tory said. "These are hardworking people working day and night to make sure we get through this pandemic and to the other side."
Toronto plans for post-COVID-19
Meanwhile, Toronto is preparing to wind down its emergency pandemic response, logging just 17 new cases of COVID-19 — the lowest new case count since last August.
Pegg said it remains to be determined when city-run vaccine clinics and testing sites will close, but smoothly scaling down will be a complex operation.
The day the emergency pandemic response ends will be a day worth celebrating, Pegg said.
"Of course that means that we will have beaten COVID-19."
The transition will include city hall returning to "normal" operations and people heading back to work, said Mayor John Tory.
"This day is going to come — heavens above we want it to come very soon — and we want to have the best plans in place so they can be relatively seamless," Tory said.
Toronto's Medical Officer of Health Dr. Eileen de Villa added that she'll be carefully watching vaccination rates to determined when this phase will begin.
New appointments open
The city opened up close to 400,000 new vaccine appointments in July at city-run clinics. More than 100,000 appointments have been booked since yesterday morning, Pegg said.
Wednesday also marked hair and nail salons, tattoo parlors and other personal care services reopening for the first time in seven months.
Tory encouraged residents to get a hair cut and tip generously.
"This pandemic has been incredibly tough, especially for these hard working businesses offering personal services," he said.
Meanwhile, the mayor acknowledged the "searing tragedy" of recently discovered unmarked graves at residential schools in Saskatchewan and B.C., and responded to calls to cancel Canada Day, saying residents should reflect on reconciliation.
The Toronto sign and CN Tower will be lit orange tomorrow in solidarity with Indigenous communities, Tory said.
Ontario is reporting 184 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday — the lowest daily case count since mid-September — as the province moves into Step 2 of its reopening plan.
The new numbers come as the province slowly rolls back COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, with more outdoor activities and indoor services like haircuts resuming as part of the second stage.
Outdoor concerts, theatres, water parks, fairs, festivals and amusement parks are also allowed to reopen, with up to 25 per cent capacity.
Meanwhile, essential retail stores can open to 50 per cent capacity. For a full list of what's allowed, click here.
'Ready to get back into the world safely'
The loosening of restrictions marks a welcome change for many residents across the province, who have already started taking advantage of newly-opened services.
When Daksha Pater's nail salon — Nice One Nails — called her to say they were reopening, she jumped at the chance.
"She called me saying 'When do you want to come?'" said Pater, a Toronto health-care worker.
"I said, 'First appointment — I'll be there.'"
Like Pater, Marla Cosburn was able to once again return to her salon after seven months, taking the first appointment she could get.
"It's great — so good being back here. [I'm] double-vaxxed and ready to get back into the world safely," she told CBC News during her appointment on Wednesday morning.
Marla Cosburn gets her nails done on Wednesday at her salon, Nice One Nails, located across from CF Sherway Gardens. (Paul Smith/CBC)
While some are rushing out to get manicures, Peter Kalamaris has already started welcoming customers back to his Weston barber shop.
"It's a great day to be back cutting hair, it's been a long time waiting for this to happen," he told CBC's Metro Morning host Ismaila Alfa on Wednesday.
Kalamaris's family has owned World Famous Peter's Barber Shop for more than 60 years. Like many, the pandemic has been challenging for his business.
Kalamaris was able to reopen his shop briefly earlier this year and then had to close down shortly after. While closing was hard, he's trying to stay positive about the months ahead.
Indoor fitness classes should be allowed, gym owner says
Like Kalamaris, Bomb Fitness owner Victoria Wickett says the pandemic has been a roller coaster.
After more than a year, studios across Ontario are once again allowed to offer fitness classes, but they must be held outdoors with at least three metres of distance between people.
Indoor fitness classes aren't allowed until the province enters Step 3 of the reopening plan.
Wickett says studios could "definitely do indoor fitness classes in a safe way." Instead, classes at Bomb Fitness's Toronto location will be held in a laneway behind the studio, where Wickett says people will have to contend with the smell of garbage and the occasional dead rat.
Bomb Fitness owner Victoria Wickett says while she is happy her studio is allowed to open as of Wednesday, she says indoor fitness classes should have already been allowed to resume. (Paul Smith/CBC)
While she is still happy to resume in-person classes, she says owners should have been given more trust from the province about how operate safely indoors.
"The reality is I know my space ... we have been sitting through this for the last 16 months trying to plan, to make things as comfortable as possible for our members," she said.
New high for vaccinations, delta variant still a concern
Today's change comes as health units across Ontario collectively administered 268,397 doses of vaccines yesterday — a new high for the second straight day.
The province also recorded 14 new deaths on Wednesday, bringing the official death count to 9,168.
More than 77.5 per cent of people had at least one vaccine dose as of Wednesday morning, and 37 per cent were fully vaccinated. According to the province's own indicators, these vaccination rates meet targets set for Step 3 of reopening.
But the province's new top doctor said Tuesday he'd prefer to wait a full 21 days before rolling back restrictions further.
WATCH | Delta variant remains a concern as Ontario enters Step 2, says Dr. Moore:
At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Dr. Kieran Moore, Chief Medical Officer of Health described the delta variant as “aggressive” and “spreading rapidly.” Dr. Moore warns that staying in Step 2 of reopening for at least 21 days is essential to determine the impact of opening on the community. 1:05
"The two-to-three-week cycle is very important to maintain so that we do the opening of Ontario in a stepwise manner, always going forward and not having to take a step back," Dr. Kieran Moore said at his first pandemic briefing since he officially took on the job as Ontario's chief medical officer of health.
Waterloo Regions remains in Step 1
The province set 21 days between each step of its economic reopening to observe public health trends and allow vaccines to take full effect.
It moved up the second step of the plan by a few days based on vaccination rates and other positive COVID-19 trends.
Ontario has passed the goal set for entering the third step of the reopening plan, which would further expand capacity for indoor gatherings.
But Moore, like his predecessor Dr. David Williams, maintained on Tuesday that vaccination isn't the only metric for reopening. He advised proceeding with caution with the more infectious delta variant spreading.
To date, the province has reported 1,909 cases of the delta variant. Those with one vaccine dose are less protected against that variant and that has contributed to local infection spikes in Grey Bruce and Waterloo Region.
Moore said he's watching the variant's impact locally and internationally and that reopening must be done cautiously to avoid losing progress made in the fight against the virus so far.
"It is a difficult adversary. It's aggressive, it wants to spread rapidly," he said of the variant.
Waterloo Region isn't reopening with the rest of the province today as it manages the rise in infections. Moore said travel from Waterloo into other areas with looser public health rules is discouraged.
27,258 tests completed
Today's case count a new low since Sept. 10, 2020, when 170 cases were reported.
The new cases come following 27,258 tests completed since the previous update. Public Health Ontario logged a test positivity rate of one per cent — the lowest that figure has been in months.
Toronto reported just 17 new cases on Wednesday, the lowest case count the city has seen since August 16, 2020. There were also 46 new cases in the Region of Waterloo, 19 in Grey Bruce, 17 in Hamilton and 16 in Peel Region.
The province's seven-day average currently sits at 255.
The province has used 14,741,138 it has received to date. As of Wednesday, 4,808,170 Ontarians were fully vaccinated, with 9,932,938 people having received at least one dose.
As of yesterday, 271 people were being treated for COVID-related illnesses in intensive care units. Some 181 of those patients were on ventilators.
Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott says Thursday's COVID-19 data will be posted on Friday due to Canada Day.
Ontario is reporting 184 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, marking the first time the case count is below 200 in nearly 10 months.
The provincial case total now stands at 544,897 as the province, with the exception of Waterloo Region, enters Step 2 in the reopening plan.
The last time daily cases dipped below 200 was on Sept. 10 when 170 new cases were reported.
According to Wednesday’s report, 46 cases were recorded in Waterloo Region, 19 in Grey Bruce, 17 each in both Toronto and Hamilton and 16 in Peel Region.
All other local public health units reported fewer than 15 new cases in the provincial report.
The death toll in the province has risen to 9,168 as 14 more deaths were recorded.
As of 8 p.m. on Tuesday, more than 14.4 million total COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered. That marked another new record increase of 268,397 vaccines (23,696 for a first shot and 244,701 for a second shot) in the last day.
There are more than 4.8 million people fully immunized with two doses which is 39.2 per cent of the adult (18+) population. First dose adult coverage stands at 77.7 per cent.
Meanwhile, 533,472 Ontario residents were reported to have recovered from COVID-19, which is about 98 per cent of known cases. Resolved cases increased by 322 from the previous day.
There were more resolved cases than new cases on Wednesday.
Active cases in Ontario now stand at 2,257 — down from the previous day when it was at 2,409, and is down from June 23 when it was at 3,032. At the peak of the second wave coronavirus surge in January, active cases hit just above 30,000. In the third wave in April, active cases topped 43,000.
The seven-day average has now reached 268, which is down from yesterday’s at 278, and is down from last week at 316. A month ago, the seven-day average was around 1,100.
The government said 27,258 tests were processed in the last 24 hours. There is currently a backlog of 11,704 tests awaiting results. A total of 15,949,282 tests have been completed since the start of the pandemic.
Test positivity for Wednesday hit 1 per cent, the last time it was that low was on Sept. 25 when it was also at 1 per cent. Last week, test positivity was at 1.2 per cent.
Ontario reported 251 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 (down by six from the previous day) with 271 patients in intensive care units (down by five) and 181 patients in ICUs on a ventilator (down by four). Hospitalizations have been on the decline since the third wave peak in April.
Variants of concern in Ontario
Officials have listed breakdown data for the new VOCs (variants of concern) detected so far in the province which consist of the B.1.1.7 (now named by WHO as “Alpha” and was first detected in the United Kingdom), B.1.351 (now named by WHO as “Beta” and was first detected in South Africa), P.1 (now named by WHO as “Gamma” and was first detected in Brazil), and B.1.617.2 (now named by WHO as “Delta” and was first detected in India).
“Alpha” the B.1.1.7 VOC: 143,444 variant cases, which is up by 63 since the previous day,
“Beta” the B.1.351 VOC: 1,365 variant cases, which is up by 50 since the previous day.
“Gamma” the P.1 VOC: 4,544 variant cases which is up by 105 since the previous day.
“Delta” B.1.617.2 VOC: 1,909 variant cases which is up by 205 since the previous day.
NOTE: It takes several days for positive COVID-19 tests to be re-examined for the exact variant. Therefore, there may be more variant cases than overall cases in daily reporting.
Here is a breakdown of the total cases in Ontario by gender and age:
271,474 people are male — an increase of 86 cases.
269,629 people are female — an increase of 89 cases.
87,702 people are 19 and under — an increase of 49 cases.
204,089 people are 20 to 39 — an increase of 55 cases.
155,540 people are 40 to 59 — an increase of 50 cases.
72,402 people are 60 to 79 — an increase of 23 cases.
25,065 people are 80 and over — an increase of eight cases.
The province notes that not all cases have a reported age or gender.
Here is a breakdown of the total deaths related to COVID-19 by age:
Deaths reported in ages 19 and under: 4
Deaths reported in ages 20 to 39: 82
Deaths reported in ages 40 to 59: 573 (+4)
Deaths reported in ages 60 to 79: 2,916 (+8)
Deaths reported in ages 80 and older: 5,592 (+2)
The province notes there may be a reporting delay for deaths and data corrections or updates can result in death records being removed.
Cases, deaths and outbreaks in Ontario long-term care homes
According to the Ministry of Long-Term Care, there have been 3,782 deaths reported among residents and patients in long-term care homes across Ontario which is unchanged since yesterday. Thirteen virus-related deaths in total have been reported among staff.
There are 3 current outbreaks in homes, which is a decrease of two from the previous day.
The ministry also indicated there are currently nine active cases among long-term care residents four active cases among staff — up by one and down by one, respectively, in the last day.
Crude oil prices jumped higher today after the Energy Information Administration reported an inventory decline of 6.7 million barrels for the week to June 25.
This compares with a draw of 7.6 million barrels the EIA estimated for the previous week.
A day earlier, the American Petroleum Institute had reported a crude oil inventory draw of over 8 million barrels for last week, the sixth consecutive week of inventory draws.
Analysts had expected the EIA to report an inventory draw of 4.686 million barrels for the week to June 25.
In gasoline, the EIA reported an inventory build of 1.5 million barrels for last week, which compared with a decline of 2.9 million barrels for the previous week. Gasoline production averaged 9.6 million bpd last week, compared with 10.3 million bpd for the previous week.
In middle distillates, the authority estimated an inventory draw of 900,000 barrels for the week to June 25, which compared with a build of 1.8 million barrels for the previous week. Production of middle distillates averaged 5 million bpd last week. This compared with 5.1 million bpd for the previous two weeks.
Oil prices, meanwhile, are gaining but more slowly as the market anticipates the outcome of this week’s meeting of OPEC+, scheduled for tomorrow. Concern about the spread of the latest coronavirus variant is also dampening optimism but not enough to arrest oil’s rally.
The overwhelming sentiment continues bullish both among forecasters and traders, with the former expecting an oil deficit this year as demand is set to continue growing faster than demand. Most are looking to OPEC+ to narrow the gap between the two and put a lid on prices but given OPEC+’s caution until now, chances are it will stick to it and not rush to add too many barrels to the market yet.
At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $75.32 a barrel, with West Texas Intermediate at $73.75 a barrel.
The commodity boom is alive and well for Canada’s top stock exchange. The S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 7.86 per cent in the second quarter, as of the close of trading Monday. The performance is enough to propel Toronto’s benchmark into the 33rd spot among 92 global peers, sandwiched between the Philippines and Hungary in terms of overall returns. That lags the S&P 500’s eight per cent increase, which has the U.S. benchmark ranked 31st in the world, but easily surpasses the blue-chip American benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average’s 54th-placed showing. Here’s how Toronto booked that return:
Top Stocks:
Tourmaline Oil Corp. +44.0 per cent
BlackBerry Ltd. +43.7 per cent
Enerplus Corp +39.1 per cent
Tourmaline Oil:
In spite of its name, Tourmaline is primarily a natural gas play. The company, Canada’s largest natural gas producer with significant assets in the Montney and Deep Basin formations, has gotten a significant boost from the underlying strength in commodity prices. Natural gas has been buoyed by the jump in natural gas prices due to unprecedented heat in Western Canada.
BlackBerry
Call it a meme stock rally. Shares of BlackBerry have gone on a meteoric rise as Reddit-based retail investors bid up a slate of stocks, including the likes of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and Gamestop Corp. BlackBerry has been reluctant to capitalize on the gains, eschewing capital-raising schemes undertaken by other companies caught up in the wave.
Enerplus
Another oil and gas play, Enerplus has gotten a boost in the wake of a rebound in energy demand as the pandemic exits its darkest period. The company has been active in decamping from Canada to the United States in order to tap into a more accommodative regulatory environment, with CEO Ian Dundas repeatedly declaring regulations south of the border to be more accommodative for his firm.
Biggest losers:
Westport Fuel Systems: -28.0 per cent
Ballard Power Systems: -26.1 per cent
Canopy Growth Corp: -25.2 per cent
Westport Fuel Systems
There’s been some cooling sentiment around alternative fuel vehicles after a massive rally in shares of companies focused on the future of transportation through 2020. Westport has been caught up in that trend, posting the biggest loss of any TSX-listed company. Shares of the firm have come under pressure amid that secular shift, leaving it as the worst performer on the TSX.
Ballard Power Systems
It’s a similar story for Ballard – a company that has been a boom and bust on public markets since the 1980s. Ballard has signed a number of deals to provide power units to public transit systems, but the widespread adoption of alternative power remains a hurdle.
Canopy Growth
It’s been a rough ride for the Canadian cannabis sector in the wake of legalization: the industry has been hampered by the combination of concerns over sustained profitability and the robustness of the legal market.
Ontario’s new chief medical officer of health says that he will not support moving to the third and final step in the province’s reopening plan ahead of schedule amid concerns over the spread of the Delta variant.
Ontario will enter step two at midnight, allowing personal care services that have been shuttered since November in Toronto and Peel Region to finally reopen.
The move comes two days ahead of schedule and will mean that a host of activities will be permitted in time for the Canada Day holiday, including larger outdoor gatherings of up to 25 people.
The decision to accelerate the timeline was made with the full support of former chief medical officer of health Dr. David Williams, who cited the high vaccination rates and improving public health indicators in explaining his reasoning.
But during a briefing on Tuesday, Williams’ successor Dr. Kieran Moore seemed to rule out a similar move to expedite the start of step three, which will allow indoor businesses like movie theatres and gyms to reopen and bars and restaurants to begin serving customers indoors once again.
“I do want us to celebrate our high immunization rates and the achievements that we have realized in Ontario but I think a 21-day interval is prudent and I personally don't want to see that shortened because we need to be data driven in the face of this new entity,” he said, alluding to the Delta variant.
COVID-19 transmission in Ontario has been steadily declining for months now but on Tuesday Associate Medical Officer of Health Dr. Barbara Yaffe shared new data suggesting that cases involving the Delta variant have a reproductive number of around one, which could eventually lead to a growing pandemic once again.
For his part, Moore acknowledged the “frustrations” of many businesses that have had to remain closed even as case counts have plummeted but he said that we are faced with a “new, more aggressive adversary” in the Delta variant and need to proceed with caution.
For that reason, he said that Ontario needs to wait at least 21 days after entering step two to evaluate the impact that lifting restrictions with the variant circulating will have on transmission.
This despite the fact that Ontario has already reached its vaccination benchmakrs for step three, which called for 70 to 80 per cent of those eligible to have at least one dose and 25 per cent to be fully immunized.
“I am an optimist. I would very much like us to move forward and not backwards,” he said, noting that Ontario could move to the final step as soon as July 20.
Ontario’s science advisory table estimates that the Delta variant accounts for more than 70 per cent of new cases in Ontario.
The variant has already led to surges in cases in a number of jurisdictions and has prompted officials in some countries, including the United Kingdom and Israel, to re-impose public health restrictions.
British Columbia health officials have reported 29 new COVID-19 cases and no new deaths since their last update on June 28.
The number of confirmed cases in B.C. is now at 147,578 while the death toll remains at 1,754.
Of the new cases, seven were recorded in Vancouver Coastal Health, seven were in Fraser Health, three was in Island Health, 10 were in Interior Health and two were people who generally reside outside of Canada. There were no new cases reported in Northern Health.
There are currently 876 active cases in the province, 110 people in hospital — 34 of whom are in intensive care.
A total of people 144,931 in B.C. have recovered from COVID-19 while 4,941,795 million doses of vaccine have been administered province-wide, including more than 800,000 doses on Vancouver Island.
Today’s figures were released as a statement to the media and less than three hours after health officials announced that British Columbia will be moving into Stage 3 of the provincial reopening plan on July 1.
As a result, the order on personal gathering restrictions will be lifted and the provincial state of emergency will also be declared over. The capacity for outdoor and indoor organized gatherings will be increased and nightclubs will be allowed to operate with restrictions that include no dancing or socializing between tables.
“We can engage again,” said Premier John Horgan during a press conference about Stage 3 reopening.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, the provincial health officer, said during the press conference that vaccination rates are continuing to climb, with some exceptions in small communities in the northern and interior health regions where drive-thru and mobile clinics are expected to make it more convenient for people to get immunized.
“Because of the efforts of people in B.C., we continue to see a significant decline in new cases of COVID-19, hospitalizations and deaths as the number of people who are fully immunized goes up,” Henry said. “Public health teams throughout the province are closely watching the case data to ensure we maintain this positive momentum as we safely and gradually move into Step 3 of our restart plan.”
Officials also stated during the press conference that they would no longer be holding regular media briefings regarding COVID-19 after this week, citing declining cases and hospitalizations.
“We need to know that this virus is going to be here but it is not going to be here that is in way that is disrupting our lives like it has for the last 18 months,” said Henry.
Island Health
Active cases continue to fall on Vancouver Island as only three new cases reported in the region in the past 24 hours.
There are currently 16 active cases, six people in hospital — four of whom are in critical care — on Vancouver Island.
When it comes to active cases, there are three cases in the South Island, 13 cases in Central Island, and none in the North Island. It’s the first time all year that any region of Vancouver Island has had no active COVID-19 cases.
In the past 24 hours, there were 9,053 doses of vaccine administered on Vancouver Island. Of those, 359 doses were AstraZeneca, 8,231 doses were Moderna and 913 doses were Pfizer. A total of 746,918 doses of vaccine have been administered Island-wide, 20 per cent of which are second doses.
A total of 810,549 doses of vaccine have been administered Island-wide, 26 per cent of which are second doses.
Although vaccination continues on Vancouver Island, there have been some delays due to hot weather with a number of clincis temporarily closing, including ones in Comox, Langford and Lake Cowichan on Tuesday.
Island Health says all those who have had appointments cancelled will be contacted and rebooked.
“We are working on solutions to create additional appointments to rebook people as quickly as possible,” the health authority said in a statement. “We acknowledge this may be frustrating for some people and we ask for patience and understanding as we move through the effects of this extreme weather event.”
Since the pandemic began, there have been 5,159 cases identified, 41 deaths, 254 hospitalizations, and 5,092 recoveries in the Island Health region.
MONTREAL --
When it comes to getting a second vaccine, it seems there are several options available to Quebecers.
They can advance the date of their second dose, change the location of their appointment and even change the type of vaccine they receive for their second jab. But that last option has caused a little confusion about mixing vaccines.
On Tuesday, Quebec’s health minister set the record straight: people who have received the Moderna vaccine as their first dose must stick with that brand for their second shot.
The ministry of health has previously said that people who have received the Pfizer dose can either get Pfizer again or switch to Moderna for the second shot since both are mRNA vaccines and "have a similar functioning and composition."
Similarly, people who received AstraZeneca for the first dose have even more options. They can either stick with AstraZeneca for their second dose, or choose one of the mRNA vaccines for round two: Pfizer or Moderna.
It’s not immediately clear if the restrictions for Moderna recipients are related to supply issues, since there will be a delay of Pfizer shipments in the coming days.
On Monday, Quebec received 494,910 Pfizer doses that will be distributed across the province, while another 52,650 doses are still expected this week.
A massive shipment of more than 1.7 million Moderna doses are also expected to be delivered this week, as well as 120,000 shots of AstraZeneca.
As of Tuesday, more than 6 million first doses have been administered in Quebec, covering 80 per cent of the population. Just under 30 per cent of people have received their second dose.
Nova Scotia reported one new case of COVID-19 in the province on Tuesday, bringing the active case total to 51.
There have also been seven recoveries, according to a news release from the province.
The one case is in the eastern zone, and is a close contact of a previously reported case.
Two people are currently in hospital with the virus.
The Nova Scotia Health Authority's labs completed 2,399 tests on Monday.
As of Monday, 898,247 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered. Of those, 193,200 were second doses.
Upcoming briefing
Nova Scotia Premier Iain Rankin and Dr. Robert Strang, the chief medical officer of health, are providing an update on COVID-19 at 3 p.m. today.
The update comes as the province is scheduled to move to Phase 3 of its reopening plan on Wednesday.
That phase would allow people from outside the Atlantic provinces to enter Nova Scotia under isolation restrictions tied to their level of vaccine coverage.
Atlantic Canada case numbers
New Brunswick reported one new case Monday. It has 26 active cases.
The Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines will likely provide protection against the coronavirus for years if it doesn't evolve significantly, a small new study suggests.
As a massive vaccination effort continues to play out across the globe, there is still a question about how protective COVID-19 vaccines will be in the long term and whether booster shots will be necessary. Some vaccines for other viruses, such as influenza, provide only fleeting protection and need to be renewed every year, but others — such as the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella — confer lifelong protection.
The level of protection depends on how much and how quickly the virus evolves, as well as on how robust different types of vaccines are in spurring a lasting immune response. The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines both use a relatively novel platform known as messenger RNA (mRNA) to train the immune system to fight SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, Live Science previously reported.
While mRNA vaccines have greatly exceeded experts' expectations and have shown high efficacy in protecting people from SARS-CoV-2, including its currently circulating variants, how long this protection will last hasn't been clear.
To figure this out, a group of researchers recruited 41 participants who received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine; eight had previously been infected with SARS-CoV-2. The researchers collected blood samples at the start of the study and then three, four, five, seven and 15 weeks after the participants received their first dose of the vaccine.
Consistent with previous studies, the researchers found that the mRNA vaccine induced strong antibody responses and that those responses were even stronger in people who had recovered from a mild SARS-CoV-2 infection prior to being vaccinated.
The team also collected lymph node samples across this same time span from 14 people, none of whom had previously been infected with SARS-CoV-2. In response to infections and vaccinations, fleeting molecular structures known as "germinal centers" form inside the lymph nodes, the glands that hold immune system cells and typically swell in response to an infection.
In people who are infected with SARS-CoV-2, these structures form in the lymph nodes of the lungs, which are difficult to access, whereas vaccines typically spur their production in the armpits, which is more easily accessible.
"You can think of them as our boot camps for the immune cells," said senior author Ali Ellebedy, an immunologist at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The structures train a type of immune cell known as B cells over weeks and months to bind better to a pathogen — in this case, SARS-CoV-2.
The process creates highly trained immune cells, some of which are memory cells that will remember the virus in the long-term.
Not much is known about how long these "boot camps" last inside the lymph nodes in humans; animal studies have shown that they typically last only a few weeks, Ellebedy said.
But in the new study, Ellebedy and his team found something surprising: In most of the participants who received the vaccine, their germinal centers continued to be active, training these robust immune cells for at least 15 weeks after the first dose.
'Very promising' protection
Because this germinal-center response lasted for months, it likely produced many memory cells that will last for years; and some of these memory cells will likely establish themselves inside bone marrow and produce lifelong antibodies, Ellebedy told Live Science. That's "very promising" but doesn't necessarily mean people won't need booster shots, he said.
Rather, the need for booster shots will depend on how much the virus evolves and whether the cells produced by the germinal centers are robust enough to handle significantly different variants, he added. In addition, not everyone generates the same robust immune response; some people, such as those with suppressed immune systems, will likely need booster shots, he said.
"This study, like others before it, confirms that the vaccines are eliciting the appropriate reaction from the immune system and that durable immunity is being created," said Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious-diseases specialist and a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore.
Adalja, who was not involved in the new study, agrees that it's too soon to discuss whether we will need booster shots. "If a large proportion of the fully vaccinated are contracting breakthrough infections that land them in the hospital, that is the threshold for booster vaccinations," he told Live Science in an email.
Still, this is the first study to provide direct evidence that the germinal-center response is persistent in humans after vaccination. Although the authors didn't look at people who had received the Moderna vaccine, they think the response will likely be similar, because it's also an mRNA vaccine that showed a comparable efficacy, Ellebedy said. However, more research will be needed to see the duration of the germinal-center response from the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, because it uses a different platform (rather than mRNA), he said.
Now, Ellebedy and his team hope to continue monitoring these cells to see whether they migrate and settle permanently in bone marrow. In other words, it's still unclear whether these immune cells will "become our life partners, basically helping us for the rest of our lives" or if we will eventually need booster vaccines to make some better fighters.
The findings were published online June 28 in the journal Nature.
OPEC+ says that the overall conditions in the oil market have significantly improved in recent months. The group was optimistic as this week’s meetings began, with a decision on whether they will ease the production cuts further expected on July 1.
“The overall brighter picture in relation to the pandemic recovery efforts has led to significantly improved oil market conditions and prospects for future growth,” OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said at the meeting of the Joint Technical Committee (JTC) on Tuesday.
The JTC meeting, which precedes the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) scheduled for Wednesday and the OPEC+ ministerial meeting on Thursday, discussed the latest oil market developments and the future prospects of economic and oil demand growth.
“A combination of improving market indicators and the ongoing commitment of DoC countries to restore stability to the global oil market suggests that we are on the right path to recovery from the #COVID19 pandemic, despite lingering uncertainties,” Barkindo said at the JTC meeting today.
Commercial oil stocks in OECD countries have already fallen below the 2015-2019 average, as per preliminary May 2021 data, and were 275 million barrels lower than at this time last year, Barkindo told the meeting, as quoted by Amena Bakr, Deputy Bureau Chief and Chief Opec Correspondent at Energy Intelligence. Related: Rising Demand Closes The Gap Between WTI And Brent Prices
The OPEC+ alliance is “pleased to see the steady reduction in inventories that were alarmingly nearly at tank tops last year at the height of the pandemic,” Barkindo also noted.
Analysts largely expect the group to decide on Thursday to further ease the cuts as of August 1.
“Given the strength in the market, and concerns over tightness it is largely expected that OPEC+ will increase supply, and our expectation is that the group will agree on a 500Mbbls/d increase for August. Anything less than this amount would likely be enough to see bulls push the market higher in the near term,” ING strategists Warren Patterson and Wenyu Yao said on Monday.
The list price for the 270 jets totals about $35 billion. Airlines typically pay only a fraction of list prices — and because this is still not a good time for aircraft sales, United is paying far below half of the list price.
United is likely getting an especially significant discount, on the 200 Boeing(BA) 737 Max jets that makes up the bulk of the order. The rest of the order is for 70 Airbus(EADSF) A321neo aircraft.
On Monday, United(UAL) told investors that it expects to post an adjusted pre-tax profit in July, the first sign of profitability by United or any major airline since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Demand for leisure travel is nearly back to normal, helping to lift fares, even if more lucrative business travel and international flights are still only a fraction of whatthey were before the pandemic.
"It's a sign that United is a savvy airplane buyer," said Ron Epstein, aerospace analyst for Bank of America. "I'm certain they're getting a good deal on Max's. But If they didn't feel reasonably good about the return of market for flying, they wouldn't be doing it."
Replacing smaller planes
United will use most of the jets ordered Tuesday to replace 200 smaller regional jets that carry about 50 passengers each, allowing it to increase capacity without adding flights at airports such as Newark and San Francisco, which limit each airline's takeoffs and landings. It will also replace about 100 older full-size planes.
It should be welcome news to passengers, who tend to dislike the smaller planes, CEO Scott Kirby said in a presentation to investors Tuesday.
"We're trying to fly 50-seat regional jets between Chicago and Dallas or between Newark and Atlanta. And we're trying to compete with people that have a much better product," CEO Scott Kirby said in a presentation to investors Tuesday. "We had no chance to compete effectively. This order is about remedying that and creating a domestic network that has a product that our customers like."
Currently, United said, regional jets are being used for a third of domestic flights. Tuesday's purchases will cut that figure down to 10%.
Expectations for rebound in business and international travel
Including Tuesday's orders, and previous orders it had on the books, United now has orders for 500 new jets coming in the next few years, with 40 planes — many of them widebody jets used on long-haul routes — due to be delivered next year and 138 in 2023 alone.
It's a stunning change from a year ago, when lack of demand forced United and all other airlines worldwide to park planes and halt aircraft purchases and deliveries. This year's deliveries of new jets will still be a fraction of pre-pandemic levels. But, like United, Southwest and Delta(DAL) have also announced plane purchases in recent months.
"What a difference a year makes," Kirby said. But he said United has been planning for the recovery and discussing purchases since last summer, adding that "this is about where we expected to be" at this point.
Kirby told investors business travel is accelerating, and while it's still down 60% from pre-pandemic levels, that's an improvement from a 90% drop earlier this year. International travel is still limited, with many countries still restricting cross-border travel, but Kirby and other United executives are expecting record international travel next year.
Still, plane deliveries will still be slow this year and next. United said in a filing Tuesday that it expects the first of the planes in Tuesday's order to arrive in 2023. The order includes 150 of the newest version of the 737 Max, the Max 10, which had its first test flight earlier this month and isn't yet certified to fly passengers.
Plans to add 25,000 jobs
United plans to add about 25,000 jobs over the next five years to the 68,000 frontline positions it now has, hiring pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, gate agents and other staff needed to handle the increase in passengers it expects.
The airline cut about 22,000 employees last year during the downturn, although it has already recalled some of those employees to cope with a surge in leisure travel.
Southwest(LUV), which owns more Max jets than any other airline, has ordered an additional 134 737 Max jets since the Federal Aviation Administration approved the plane to fly again. But even with Tuesday's United orders, Boeing has not recouped the more than 1,000 canceled orders of its best-selling jet since the March 2019 grounding.
As much as this is an important vote of confidence for Boeing and the 737 Max, the demand for planes is still relatively low, depressing prices that aircraft makers can charge. Boeing has slowed production of its planes, closed one factory in Washington state that had built the 787 Dreamliner widebody jet, and cut staff.
United also said it will revamp the interiors of all of its existing full-sized jets, adding seat-back entertainment systems, larger luggage bins and more "economy plus" seats that come with additional legroom — and higher fares.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- Australia is offering AstraZeneca to all adults in a bid to rapidly ramp up sluggish vaccination rates as more of the country on Tuesday locked down against the spread of COVID-19.
The government late Monday agreed to indemnify doctors who administer the AstraZeneca vaccine that has been blamed for at least two fatalities from a rare blood clot complication in Australia since April.
That exceeds the single death from COVID-19 in Australia this year, and vaccine hesitancy has increased with only 5% of the population fully inoculated.
Pfizer has been the recommended vaccine for people younger than 60 since a 52-year-old woman died in May of blood clots in the brain blamed on AstraZeneca.
But supply of Pfizer, the only alternative to Australian-manufactured AstraZeneca, cannot keep up with demand.
“There's a preference for Pfizer until the age of 60. That's a preference,” Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said on Tuesday.
“It's a discussion for doctors to have with their own patients and work through their own risk and benefit in relation to that,” Kelly added.
The Queensland state capital Brisbane and surrounding cities will be in lockdown for three days from late Tuesday after the government reported two new COVID-19 infections.
Sydney reported 19 new infections in that east coast city, Perth reported two new cases on the west coast and Darwin reported two new cases on the north coast. Those three cities and their surrounds are already in lockdown.
Australia has been relatively successful in containing clusters throughout the pandemic, registering fewer than 31,000 cases and 910 deaths within a population of 26 million. But the new clusters of a variant thought to be more contagious have highlighted the nation's vulnerability through a slow vaccine rollout.
AstraZeneca was supposed to be the mainstay of Australia's vaccination rollout free of the uncertainties of international supply chains. It was recommended for all adults until a 48-year-old woman died of blood clots in April four days after her first jab. AstraZeneca was then said to be a safe option for adults aged over 50 until the 52-year-old died.
Some epidemiologists argue the government should speed up the rollout by reducing the gap between AstraZeneca jabs from 12 to eight weeks. But some Australians are now refusing to take a second shot because of the evolving perception of the blood clotting risk.
The New South Wales state government is highlighting vaccines' apparent successes in the current Sydney cluster.
Twenty-four people who attended a birthday party on June 19 became infected with the delta variant. None had been vaccinated. But six fully vaccinated health workers and an aged care worker who had received the first of two doses attended the house party and were not infected.
“The early and strong indications from that party ... are, if you're vaccinated, you are much more likely to not be infected with COVID-19,” Health Minister Brad Hazzard said on Monday.
State Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall said he was the only one among four government colleagues who dined together at a Sydney pizza restaurant on June 21 to become infected. An infected person had been at the restaurant earlier.
Marshall revealed he was the only one among the four who had not had a dose of vaccine because, at age 36, he was not eligible.
The City of Toronto says it is opening up 375,000 new vaccine appointments over the next three weeks.
Mayor John Tory says 125,000 appointments will be added for the weeks of July 5, 12 and 19, and will be available for booking starting Tuesday at 8 a.m.
Any residents 18 and older who received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines at least 28 days ago, or the AstraZeneca vaccine at least eight weeks ago, can now book their second shots.
Toronto, however, is ahead of the province's schedule. Any residents in the city ages 12 and older are eligible book their second doses as of Monday morning, provided they meet the same criteria on when they received their first dose.
Meanwhile, hundreds of volunteers administered nearly 27,000 COVID-19 vaccines at a mass clinic at Toronto's Scotiabank Arena on Sunday, in what the city is calling a new North American record.
Tory was among the 26,771 people who received a vaccine at the "Our Winning Shot" event at the home arena of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors.
Toronto broke the North American record for delivering the most COVID-19 vaccinations at a single site in a single day. Roughly 25,0000 people went to Scotiabank Arena to roll up their sleeves and push the city over the top. 1:46
The city said it broke the previous record at about 8 p.m., when 17,004 doses had been administered. Texas held that record with 17,003 shots administered at a drive-thru clinic on April 30.
The clinic ran into the late evening and offered walk-in appointments for the last several hours.
That's a wrap on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TorontoVaccineDay?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TorontoVaccineDay</a>!<br><br>Tally of doses administered: 26,771<br><br>Big thank you to everyone on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TeamToronto?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TeamToronto</a> for bringing today together and the 26,771 people who came out to get their shot. <a href="https://t.co/l4EAYSKTvU">pic.twitter.com/l4EAYSKTvU</a>
Adults were given the Moderna vaccine, while adolescents aged 12-17 were given Pfizer.
Tory said some 800 staff and volunteers helped make the day run smoothly.
"I wasn't too hung up on whether we set records or not, but I just thought the notion of having thousands of vaccinations take place on a given day — at such an important stage with our battle against COVID-19 — very important," Tory said at a news conference Monday.
'We want to move to Step 3 as soon as possible'
Toronto has administered more than 3.3 million vaccine doses since the start of the immunization campaign. Some 35 per cent of adults in the city have been fully vaccinated.
The city and its health-care partners are operating a total of 36 vaccine clinics Monday.
Ontario is set to move into Step 2 of the government's reopening plan on Wednesday.
Tory says getting people fully vaccinated will be crucial in moving to the next step.
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