B.C. seeks ban on using drugs in 'all public spaces,' shifting approach to decriminalization
The B.C. government is moving to have drug use banned in 'all public spaces,' marking a major shift in the province's approach to decriminalization.
The federal government is expecting to receive about 7.1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines this week, as it adjusts its distribution strategy amid waning vaccination rates and substantial supply.
The new deliveries will include about 3.1 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and four million doses of Moderna.
"In the coming weeks, we will cross a symbolic threshold of 66 million doses, signalling that there are enough doses in Canada to vaccinate every currently eligible Canadian," Brig.-Gen. Krista Brodie said Thursday at a virtual news conference from Ottawa.
Brodie, who is overseeing the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines across the country, said Canada is moving to a "more nuanced" approach as the supply of doses is on the verge of outstripping demand.
More than two million doses of vaccine are already being held back because provinces have said they can't use them yet, she said.
The move marks a shift away from the early strategy of sending doses around the country as quickly as possible after they arrive.
"As we pivot from limited supply to sufficient supply, we are implementing a more nuanced approach to ensure that the vaccines are stewarded in a manner that best supports Canada's enduring domestic needs, as well as optimizes options for supporting global vaccination efforts," Brodie said.
Provinces can draw more doses from the reserved amount when and if they need to do so.
Canada's vaccination rate remains among the highest in the world, but is starting to slow as the pool of people still looking for a first or second dose shrinks.
As of Friday, almost 79 per cent of eligible Canadians had received at least one dose of a vaccine and more than 50 per cent were fully vaccinated.
Canada has already said it plans to donate the remaining 17.7 million doses in expected shipments of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to the COVAX global vaccine-sharing alliance.
Those doses will be shipped to developing countries that are nowhere close to the level of immunization Canada now enjoys. In Africa, about three per cent of the population has now received at least one dose, and 1.4 per cent are fully vaccinated.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, warned countries such as Canada, where vaccinations are high and case loads under control, to remember the pandemic is not over.
On Thursday, the WHO reported the number of COVID-19 deaths in Africa jumped 43 per cent over the last week, as the Delta variant continued its devastating spread.
Several provinces indicated Thursday that they've had to destroy some doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine that expired July 1 before they could be used. Health Canada had already extended the expiry date for those doses by one month.
Ontario's Ministry of Health said Thursday it had 3,190 doses of AstraZeneca that would be destroyed, Prince Edward Island said it was destroying 3,200 doses and New Brunswick 960.
Demand for AstraZeneca plummeted in May after the National Advisory Committee on Immunization said the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna were preferred because they weren't associated with the rare but serious side-effect of blood clots potentially linked to AstraZeneca.
Canada has yet to say if or when it will donate any doses of Pfizer or Moderna.
Procurement Minister Anita Anand said 95 million doses of the two vaccines will be delivered by the end of September. That is at least 20 million doses more than Canada could use even if 100 per cent of Canadians chose to get fully vaccinated.
Most polls suggest about 80 per cent of Canadians will be vaccinated. Currently, the vaccines aren't authorized for kids under the age of 12, although there's hope that vaccine trials on younger children will be finished by the end of the summer.
Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Thursday Canada will keep enough doses to ensure supply for younger children when they become eligible. There are about 4.8 million kids in Canada under the age of 12.
"We will never do anything that will jeopardize our ability to have, quickly and safely, access to all the vaccines necessary to immunize any eligible Canadian," LeBlanc said.
------
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 19, 2021.
This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
The B.C. government is moving to have drug use banned in 'all public spaces,' marking a major shift in the province's approach to decriminalization.
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.
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.
The Canadian Transportation Agency has hit a record high of more than 71,000 complaints in a backlog. The quasi-judicial regulator and tribunal tasked with settling disputes between customers and the airlines says the backlog is growing because the number of incoming complaints keeps increasing.
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.
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Philadelphia 76ers All-Star centre Joel Embiid has been diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a form of facial paralysis he says has affected him since before the play-in tournament.
An American Airlines flight attendant was indicted Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September.
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.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.