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.
Health Minister Patty Hajdu said she expects a submission from Pfizer in the coming weeks for the use of the company's COVID-19 vaccine in children ages five to 11.
Speaking Tuesday on CTV's Power Play, Hajdu said government health officials have been in constant contact with Pfizer regarding vaccine data.
"We anticipate that we'll get a submission, hopefully in the early stages of October," she said. "As soon as we receive the data from the company, the regulators are well-situated to rapidly review that data."
The pharmaceutical company stated last week that its vaccine, created in partnership with BioNTech, is effective in children aged five to 11.
Pfizer tested a much lower dose -- a third of the amount that's in each shot given now -- in a study involving 2,268 kindergarten and elementary school-aged children. After their second dose, the company said these children developed antibody levels just as high as teenagers and young adults getting the regular-strength shots, Dr. Bill Gruber, a Pfizer senior vice-president, told The Associated Press.
The kid dosage also proved safe, with similar or fewer temporary side effects that teens experience, such as sore arms, fever or achiness, he said.
There are currently no COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in children under 12 years old in Canada.
News of Pfizer's incoming data may be welcomed by parents of young children who have recently begun the school year with the highly contagious Delta variant spreading in the country.
As of Monday, children five to 11 years old made up approximately 13.5 per cent of the COVID-19 cases reported in Ontario in the last 14 days. In Alberta, children aged five to nine made up about 10 per cent of reported cases in the last week.
Pfizer said Tuesday it has submitted study data to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and expects to apply for the emergency authorization of its use for children south of the border in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, Moderna is currently studying the efficacy of its COVID-19 vaccine in elementary school-aged children. Both Pfizer and Moderna are studying even younger children as well, including those who are six months old. Results are expected later in the year.
With files from The Associated Press
This story has been updated to say health officials are expecting a submission from Pfizer in October, rather than authorization.
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.”