Spring allergy season has begun. Where is it worse in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
British drug regulators have become the first in the world to authorize an updated version of Moderna's coronavirus vaccine that aims to protect against the original virus and the Omicron variant.
In a statement on Monday, the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency said it had given the green light to Moderna's combination "bivalent" vaccine, which will be used as an adult booster shot.
Each dose of the booster shot will target both the original COVID-19 virus that was first detected in 2020 and the Omicron BA.1 variant that was first picked up in November. British regulators said the side effects were similar to those seen for Moderna's original booster shot and were typically "mild and self-resolving."
"What this (combination) vaccine gives us is a sharpened tool in our armoury to help protect us against this disease as the virus continues to evolve," said Dr June Raine, the head of Britain's health care and medicines regulator.
Such an approach is used with flu shots, which are adjusted each year depending on the variants that are circulating and can protect against four influenza strains.
Stephane Bancel, Moderna's Chief Executive, said in a statement that it was the first regulatory authorization for a vaccine aiming to fight the Omicron variant, predicting the booster would have an "important role" to play in protecting people against COVID-19 in the winter.
Britain's health officials have not yet decided whether or not the tweaked vaccine will be used in its fall strategy. In July, the government said everyone 50 and over would get a COVID booster in the fall.
On Friday, Germany's health minister said the European Medicines Agency might clear tweaked COVID-19 boosters next month.
In June, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration told vaccine makers that any booster shots tweaked for the fall would have to include protection against the newest Omicron variants, meaning BA.4 and BA.5, not the BA.1 subvariant included in Moderna's latest shot.
Last month, the FDA said it was no longer considering authorizing a second COVID-19 booster for all adults but would instead focus on revamped vaccines for the autumn that target the newest viral subvariants.
Both Moderna and Pfizer are currently brewing updated versions of their vaccine to include BA.5 in addition to the original COVID-19 virus.
According to the World Health Organization, the latest global surge of COVID-19 has been driven by Omicron subvariant BA.5, which is responsible about 70% of the virus samples shared with the world's largest public virus database. The subvariant BA.5 is even more infectious than the original version of Omicron and has some genetic differences that earlier vaccines might not address.
Scientists have warned that the continued genetic evolution of COVID-19 means drugmakers will likely be one step behind the virus in their efforts to tailor their vaccines.
"The virus is unlikely to stand still and Omicron-targeted immunity, might push the virus down other evolutionary paths," warned Jonathan Ball, a professor of virology at Britain's University of Nottingham. Still, he said the new Moderna vaccine would likely still be protective.
"Unless there is a major shift in the virus, immunity will continue to protect the vast majority from serious disease caused by emerging variants," he said in a statement.
AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard in Washington, D.C. contributed
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against a trio of social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.
King Charles III gave public remarks for Maundy Thursday, addressing the importance of acts of friendship, following his and Catherine, Princess of Wales’ cancer diagnoses.
Crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for a massive fraud that unravelled with the collapse of FTX, once one of the world's most popular platforms for exchanging digital currency.
Peggy is a stout and muscular Staffordshire bull terrier, and Molly is a magpie, an Australian bird best known for swooping on humans during breeding season, not for befriending dogs. But in an emotional video posted online, Peggy’s owners announced that the animals had been separated.
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
B.C. conservation officers recently seized a nine-foot-long Burmese python from a home in Chilliwack.
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
The Ontario government is introducing changes to auto-insurance, but some experts say the move is ill-advised.
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
Newfoundland’s unique version of the Pine Marten has grown out of its threatened designation.
A Toronto man is out $12,000 after falling victim to a deepfake cryptocurrency scam that appeared to involve Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
It started small with a little pop tab collection to simply raise some money for charity and help someone — but it didn’t take long for word to get out that 10-year-old Jace Weber from Mildmay, Ont. was quickly building up a large supply of aluminum pop tabs.
There’s a group of people in Saskatoon that proudly call themselves dumpster divers, and they’re turning the city’s trash into treasure.
Ontario is facing a larger than anticipated deficit but the Doug Ford government still plans to balance its books before the next provincial election.