Stamp prices rise for the third time in five years amid financial woes for Canada Post
Canada Post is increasing stamp prices for the third time since 2019, a move the Crown corporation says is a "reality" of its sales-based revenue structure.
A new study has found that people who received the Moderna COVID-19 mRNA vaccine are less likely to experience breakthrough infections compared to those who received the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA shot.
The study, led by researchers out of Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University, also found that people who received the Moderna jab were less likely to be hospitalized following a breakthrough infection than Pfizer vaccine recipients.
The findings were published Thursday, in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association.
A breakthrough infection is when an individual tests positive for COVID-19 more than 14 days after completing the recommended series of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine.
According to the study, researchers examined the electronic health records of more than 637,000 fully vaccinated patients from 63 healthcare organizations across the U.S., analyzing breakthrough COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and death rates between July and November 2021, when the Delta variant was the dominant virus strain circulating in communities.
According to the study, incidents of breakthrough infections were included if the person had not been previously infected with COVID-19 or had received a booster shot.
Researchers say the records included fully vaccinated patients from diverse geographic backgrounds, ages, races and ethnicities, income levels, and insurance groups.
"Breakthrough COVID infections, hospitalization and mortality associated with the Delta variant were compared between recipients of Moderna mRNA vaccine and recipient of Pfizer mRNA vaccine while considering patient characteristics and the varying time since vaccination," said Rong Xu, study author and Case Western bioinformatics professor, in a press release.
The study found that the "monthly incidence rate" of breakthrough cases was higher among those who received the Pfizer vaccine, compared to Moderna.
For example, researchers reported that the data showed 2.8 breakthrough cases per 1,000 Americans in those vaccinated with Pfizer, compared to 1.6 cases in Moderna recipients for November 2021.
When it came to hospitalizations, the study found that the 60-day rate for Moderna recipients was 12.7 per cent, compared to 13.3 per cent for those who received the Pfizer vaccine.
However, the study says there was "no significant difference" in mortality rates among recipients of the two vaccines.
The findings come after some pharmacies in Ontario reported earlier in January that people are walking out after being informed that they would be receiving the Moderna vaccine rather than Pfizer's for their booster shot.
The study's authors maintain that both vaccines are effective despite the difference in breakthrough rates. They say more research is needed in the future to assess these rates following booster doses.
"Although there is a difference in breakthrough infections, both vaccines are highly protective against SARS-COV2 infection and especially against the most severe consequences of infection," said study co-author Pamela Davis in the release.
Canada Post is increasing stamp prices for the third time since 2019, a move the Crown corporation says is a "reality" of its sales-based revenue structure.
Defence lawyers of Jeremy Skibicki have admitted in court the accused killed four Indigenous women in Winnipeg, but argues he is not criminally responsible for the deaths by way of mental disorder – this latest development has triggered a judge-alone trial rather than a jury trial.
Democratic Institutions Minister Dominic LeBlanc will be tabling legislation on Monday aimed at countering foreign interference in Canada. Federal officials have scheduled a technical briefing on the incoming bill for Monday afternoon.
H5N1 or avian flu is decimating wildlife around the world and is now spreading among cattle in the United States, sparking concerns about 'pandemic potential' for humans. Now a health expert is urging Canada to scale up surveillance north of the border.
Polish prosecutors have discontinued an investigation into human skeletons found at a site where German dictator Adolf Hitler and other Nazi leaders spent time during the Second World War because the advanced state of decay made it impossible to determine the cause of death, a spokesman said Monday.
Italy's mafia rarely dirties its hands with blood these days. Extortion rackets have gone out of fashion and murders are largely frowned upon by the godfathers.
An Ontario MPP was asked again to leave the Ontario legislature on Monday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that was banned by the Speaker last month due to its political symbolism.
After his adopted parents died, Dave Rogers set out to learn more about his birth mother. DNA results and a little help from friendly strangers would put him on a path to a small town in England.
The judge presiding over Donald Trump's hush money trial fined him US$1,000 on Monday for violating his gag order once again and sternly warned the former president that additional violations could result in jail time.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.