'Cybersecurity incident' shuts down London Drugs stores across Western Canada
All 79 locations of pharmacy and retail chain London Drugs were shut down Sunday after it was the victim of a “cybersecurity incident.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine on Friday for emergency use in adolescents. It is the fourth coronavirus vaccine available in the United States and, unlike the others, it uses a protein-based technology.
The vaccine was authorized for adults in July. With the latest emergency use authorization, it also will be available as a two-dose primary series for ages 12 to 17.
In this age group, "overall, the clinical efficacy of the vaccine is around 80%," said Silvia Taylor, Novavax's senior vice president global corporate affairs. The vaccine has shown 90% overall efficacy in adults.
Novavax announced in early July that its vaccine shows "broad" immune response to currently circulating variants, including the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.
"One of the things that we believe makes our vaccine unique is that we actually see really good immune response against variants with our prototype vaccine. And so, if you think about the vaccine that we already have authorized that we're talking about now to be authorized for adolescents, we actually see a good immune response against variants including Omicron, including BA.1 and BA.5," Taylor said.
Protein-based vaccines use a more traditional approach than mRNA vaccines, teaching the immune system to recognize little modified pieces of the virus that the vaccine is targeting. In this case, that means fragments of the coronavirus spike protein. The vaccine was created out of a genetic sequence of the original strain of the coronavirus.
This technology is also used for vaccines for conditions such as hepatitis B and pertussis.
Taylor told CNN that having a protein-based coronavirus vaccine available helps give adolescents more options.
About 60% -- or 15.2 million -- of all 12- to 17-year-olds in the US are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of Friday.
"We believe fundamentally that people want a choice in the vaccines that they're able to have for themselves, and especially in this population that we're talking about for children," Taylor said. "So, we think that that kind of reassuring technology platform that's understood, combined with the high levels of efficacy and the well-tolerated safety profile, can help increase that vaccination number in children."
Next, Novavax plans to have trial data on using the vaccine among children younger than 12.
"We recently initiated a trial that we're calling Hummingbird, which is a Phase 2b/3 trial, and that's going to be an effectiveness and efficacy trial and also clearly be looking at safety, and that will have three age cohorts," Taylor said, referring to groups of children ages 6 to 11, ages 2 to 5, and 6 months to 23 months.
"The first cohort of kids, that trial was already initiated, and that's for kids 6 to 11," Taylor said. "We expect those results in the early part of 2023."
Novavax is working on an updated version of its vaccine that specifically targets the Omicron coronavirus variant and its subvariants -- and the company could file for authorization later this year, she said.
"Our intent is to file for authorization of a BA.5-containing bivalent form of a vaccine in the fourth quarter of this year," Taylor said.
"This is consistent with the approach that other manufacturers are following," she said. "We would submit that for formal authorization for EUA, just like we did for other indications to the U.S. FDA."
All 79 locations of pharmacy and retail chain London Drugs were shut down Sunday after it was the victim of a “cybersecurity incident.”
Three women diagnosed with HIV after getting 'vampire facial' procedures at an unlicensed medical spa are believed to be the first documented cases of people contracting the virus through a cosmetic procedure using needles.
Elias Lindholm scored 1:02 into overtime and the Vancouver Canucks came all the way back to beat the Nashville Predators 4-3 in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series on Sunday.
One person was killed in a six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 in Innisfil Friday evening.
Aerial photos posted by Chinese state media on Sunday showed wide devastation in part of the southern city of Guangzhou after a tornado swept through the day before, killing five people, injuring dozens others and damaging more than 140 buildings.
Ontario is introducing a suite of measures that will crack down on cellphone use and vaping in schools.
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday described domestic violence as a 'national crisis' after thousands rallied around the country against violence toward women.
Rookie goalie Arturs Silovs will start in net for the Vancouver Canucks when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series Sunday.
U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn't order the death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny in February, according to an official familiar with the determination.
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
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.