'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Further deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines to Canada are on pause because provinces already have more doses than they can currently use.
Canada was to get 95 million doses of vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna by the end of September, but is about 20 million doses shy of that as of Wednesday.
But Canada is already sitting on a stockpile of 18.7 million doses and doesn't need any more to fully vaccinate eligible people over the age of 12. That includes 8.5 million doses shipped to provinces and not yet used and 10.2 million in a federal stockpile provinces can turn to if they need it.
As of Wednesday 80 per cent of eligible Canadians were fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and another seven per cent have their first shot. At most Canada would need 11 million doses to finish vaccinating everyone over 12.
As such all provinces stopped requesting new doses by the end of August, and Canada has told suppliers not to send any more shipments for the time being.
Canadian officials are currently in talks with suppliers and other countries that need vaccines working on plans to donate Canada's excess doses of Pfizer and Moderna.
Canada has already promised to donate 40 million doses it purchased but cannot use from AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and the COVAX vaccine-sharing alliance.
It has to date shipped just 82,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine directly to Trinidad and Tobago.
Vaccine donations are trickier than they might first sound, because of legal liabilities and vaccine dose expiration issues. Most countries won't accept doses if the expiration date is under eight weeks, to ensure they can be used in time.
The vaccine contracts with Pfizer and Moderna also did not specifically spell out how excess doses could be donated, while the contracts Canada signed with AstraZeneca and J&J did.
U.S. President Joe Biden called on countries like Canada to do more to help get the rest of the world vaccinated following a virtual vaccine summit at the United Nations General Assembly Wednesday.
Biden said the U.S. was doubling its donations to more than one billion and said "we need other high-income countries to deliver on their own ambitious vaccine donations and pledges." He said the goal should be to vaccinate 70 per cent of the world's population within 12 months.
Currently, 31 per cent of the world's population is fully vaccinated, but the rollout has been very lopsided. Wealthy countries snapped up the vast majority of available doses, leaving developing nations to wait.
Africa has only fully vaccinated four per cent of the population, compared with 51 per cent in Europe and 45 per cent in North America.
At least 13 countries are above 70 per cent fully vaccinated. Canada, with 69.5 per cent of the entire population fully vaccinated, is close.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised in the Liberal election platform that Canada will donate "at least" 200 million doses of vaccine through COVAX by the end of next year.
His spokeswoman said there were no new specific commitments made by Trudeau Wednesday at Biden's vaccine summit.
Canada is also preparing to start vaccinating children between five and 11, with Pfizer expected to request authorization for that age group imminently. The company said earlier this week a clinical trial showed the vaccine was safe and produced a robust antibody response in that age group.
The dose for children is one-third the size that given to adults and it's not clear yet whether Canada could simply draw out smaller doses from each vial of vaccine already shipped.
A spokeswoman for the company said Wednesday Pfizer was preparing a "different presentation for pediatric use" but would not confirm if that meant none of the doses Canada already has could be repurposed for kids.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 22, 2021.
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a suspect in a homicide investigation after a man was slashed in downtown Toronto on Sunday.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.