More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Eight months after the vaccine was first authorized by Health Canada, usable doses of the Johnson & Johnson single-shot COVID-19 vaccine are set to arrive “imminently,” according to Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam.
“We are accessing some doses from Europe, which have been procured. They have been verified by Health Canada to meet safety, quality, and efficacy standards,” Tam told reporters on Friday.
“I expect that these doses will arrive in the coming days, and with distribution occurring shortly thereafter… we should expect to see some of these doses imminently.”
This comes after the federal government last month gauged interest among provinces and territories for shipments of the vaccine, prompted by Alberta, Saskatchewan, and B.C. making requests for the viral vector shot.
The Janssen vaccine was authorized for use in adults 18 years of age and older by Health Canada in March 2021, but Canada has not yet had any usable doses in-country despite having procurement deals that secured access to at least 10 million.
It was the fourth COVID-19 vaccine to be given the regulatory green light in this country, one of two viral vector vaccines alongside AstraZeneca, and the only single-shot option.
The first shipment of more than 300,000 doses that landed was held and never distributed after Health Canada learned that a drug substance used in the vaccine was produced at the Emergent BioSolutions' Baltimore, Md. Facility, where quality control issues had been raised by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, resulting in millions of spoiled J&J doses.
In the months that followed, sufficient doses of the other three COVID-19 vaccines were delivered, resulting in Canada having enough doses in July to fully vaccinate the entire eligible population.
Last month, then-health minister Patty Hajdu said that work was underway to procure usable doses from trusted manufacturers.
Tam said Friday that the J&J doses will be coming from Europe, as the U.S. plant’s manufacturing issue “continues to be examined.”
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has suggested that the one-shot viral vector vaccine may help assuage concerns of those who are hesitant about the mRNA vaccines Pfizer and Moderna.
“Alberta and Saskatchewan are committed to working together to secure a supply of Janssen vaccine. The intent is provide it to primary health care sites or those locations where the single dose vaccine option would lead to an increased COVID-19 vaccination uptake,” said the Saskatchewan Health Ministry in a previous statement to CTV News.
Similarly, the B.C. Ministry of Health has said the province requested the viral vector vaccine “multiple times.”
“We have requested in writing 50,000 doses... Having a variety of vaccination options is important to ensure we can provide vaccines to as many people as possible and reduce the transmission of the virus,” read their statement.
It remains to be seen whether Health Canada or the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) will be issuing new guidance around this vaccine, with NACI previously stating that it should only be offered to Canadians aged 30 and older, and that the mRNA vaccines are preferred given stronger efficacy.
The U.S. FDA has recently endorsed second shot boosters of the J&J vaccine citing concerns that those who have received it do not have the same degree of protection as those who have received a two-dose vaccine series.
Canada’s federal vaccine mandates currently consider anyone who has received a complete series of a Health Canada-authorized vaccine to be fully vaccinated.
With files from CTV News’ Sarah Turnbull
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”