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.
A panel of health experts advising the Hong Kong government has recommended children aged 12-17 should get only one dose of BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine after reports of heart inflammation as a side effect.
Professor Lau Yu-lung, who chairs the health committee advising the government on its vaccination program, told public broadcaster RTHK the side effect was more prevalent than originally thought.
He said experts decided it was better for teenagers to get only one dose to "greatly reduce the chance of heart inflammation." Hong Kong's low COVID-19 risk also means that one dose should offer sufficient protection, he said.
The Asian financial hub has largely controlled the coronavirus, with no locally transmitted cases in many weeks.
Government data shows that 41 cases involving heart inflammation have been reported from people who took the BioNTech vaccine as of end-August, or just 0.0009 per cent.
Among these cases, 16 involved adolescents aged 12-15 or 0.008 per cent of those vaccinated in that age group. Their symptoms resolved after treatment.
Hong Kong has been using two COVID-19 vaccines, namely the Sinovac and BioNTech shots. But people aged 12-17 are eligible only for the BioNTech vaccine.
Hong Kong has administered 448,800 doses for this age group and around 65 per cent, or 290,000 adolescents, have had at least one vaccine dose.
Regulators in the United States, the European Union and the World Health Organization have said that mRNA vaccines from BioNTech/Pfizer and by Moderna are associated with rare cases of myocarditis or pericarditis, but that the benefits of the shots outweigh the risks.
Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle that can limit the organ's ability to pump blood and can cause changes in heartbeat rhythms. Pericarditis is an inflammation of the lining around the heart.
Pfizer has said it recognized there could be rare reports of myocarditis after vaccinations but that such side effects were extremely rare.
BioNTech and its Chinese sales agent, Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group, did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
The risk of myocarditis was 18.5 per million doses given among people aged 18 to 24 after their second Pfizer dose, and 20.2 per million for that age group for recipients of a Moderna second dose. The risk decreases with age, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The British government on Monday said England would begin vaccinating those aged 12-15 next week, using the Pfizer/BioNTech shot, but that second doses would not be offered to the age group until at least spring, as its top medical advisers wait for more data from around the world.
Norway said earlier this month it would also begin to offer a single dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to those aged 12-15 and a decision on second doses would come later.
Around 65 per cent of Hong Kong's residents have had their first vaccine dose, but the take-up by older people remains low due to concerns about side effects.
Hong Kong has recorded around 12,100 COVID-19 cases and 213 deaths.
(Reporting by Farah Master; Additional reporting by Gwladys Fouche in Oslo; Editing by Miyoung Kim, Lincoln Feast and Tom Hogue)
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.”