COVID-19: Provincial and Federal Briefings - April 25 - 29, 2022
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Summary of developments from Monday, April 25 to Friday, April 29, 2022 follows.?
Federal Government
Moderna Manufacturing Facility
In a press conference this morning, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Moderna will build an mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility in the Montreal region. The Prime Minister made the announcement alongside Premier of Québec Fran?ois Legault, and was joined by Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry Fran?ois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel, and Moderna Canada General Manager Patricia Gauthier.
The final site for the facility has not been announced. Upon completion, the facility will have an annual production capacity of 100 million doses of mRNA vaccine and will create hundreds of jobs. The facility is expected to be operational in 2024 at the earliest, and will produce COVID-19 vaccines as well as vaccines for other respiratory diseases including influenza.
In his remarks this morning, Prime Minister Trudeau stated that Moderna’s investments in Canada will support research and development efforts as well as domestic vaccine production. He said that made-in-Canada mRNA vaccines will assist in addressing COVID-19 and a range of other illnesses, including future pandemics. The Prime Minister stated that this investment will keep communities safe, grow the economy, and make Canada a leader in mRNA technology.
Premier Legault highlighted the critical contributions of Quebec researchers in medicine and life sciences. He called this announcement important for the economy and Quebec’s autonomy in developing and acquiring vaccines, calling this facility and research commitment a victory for Quebec.
Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel noted that Canada was one of Moderna’s first partners at the outset of the pandemic. He also highlighted that mRNA technology is a “paradigm shift”, which Moderna is bringing to Canada through this investment. He also noted that Moderna will collaborate with Canadian universities to use mRNA technology for research and development of new vaccines.
Moderna Canada General Manager Patricia Gauthier emphasized the strategic importance of Moderna’s partnership with the Government of Canada. She highlighted that the diversity of the Canadian population and the quality of the scientific research community provides an opportunity to work with world-class experts to realize the potential of mRNA technology. She noted that today’s announcement, at its core, is about readiness for future health crises.
Ms. Gauthier also noted that Moderna has filed with Health Canada a request seeking authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine for use in children under six years of age.
Moderna’s news release regarding this announcement is available here .
CBSA Resumes Service at Select Airports
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) announced today that it is gradually resuming operations at certain small airports that were affected by temporary COVID-19 measures. CBSA operations will resume at 47 small airports, with activity commencing at 41 airports on May 2, and the remaining 6 airports on May 15.
COVID-19 Data Trends:?
In the past twenty-four hours, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) reported 5,347 new COVID-19 cases and an additional 44 deaths in Canada, bringing the cumulative total of cases to 3,741,125 and a total of 39,182 deaths. There are currently 253,767 active COVID-19 cases in Canada.
Ontario
On Thursday, Minister of Finance Peter Bethlenfalvy released the 2022 Budget. Ontario’s Plain to Build includes five pillars: (1) Rebuilding Ontario’s Economy; (2) Working for Workers; (3) Building Highways and Key Infrastructure; (4) Keeping Costs Down, and; (5) A Plan to Stay Open. The budget reflects Premier Doug Ford’s vision and the government’s plan to act on the priorities of Ontarians. In short, the 2022 Budget includes plans to create jobs in various industries, including in health care workforce, support better jobs, build highways, transit and other infrastructure projects, increase housing supply, provide relief for taxes and child care, expand the domestic production of supplies, and invest in hospitals and homecare.???
In the past five days, the province reported 732 new cases and 76 COVID-19 related deaths. This marks a decrease in the number of new COVID-19 cases compared to the past few weeks.
There are 1,679 Ontarians being treated for COVID-19 in general hospital wards, a net increase of 224 patients since April 25. There were net decreases of 10 patients in intensive care and 3 patients on a ventilator, bringing the total to 209 and 94 patients, respectively.
To date, 32,728,953 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Ontario. Currently, 93% of Ontarians aged 12 or older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 91.1% have received both doses. In terms of Ontarians aged 5 or older, 90.2% have one dose and 86.8% have both doses. In addition, 59.7% of Ontarians have received a booster dose.
Quebec
Yesterday, Interim National Director of Public Health Dr.?Luc Boileau provided a COVID-19 update. He was accompanied by microbiologist, Dr.?Jean Longtin, clinical expert in support of the scientific management of the pandemic of the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
Dr.?Boileau reminded everyone that the mandatory mask mandate will remain in effect for another two weeks, until May 14.
He also announced that several indicators show a decrease in contagiousness among the population. The recent projections (French only) from the Institut national d'excellence en santé et en services sociaux (INESS) predict a gradual decline in hospitalizations over the next two weeks.
Lastly, Dr.?Boileau said that 5 to 10% of people infected with the BA-2 Omicron variant are cases of reinfections. Dr.?Boileau stated that the risk of reinfection occurs two months after infection, not three months as was previously believed.
Regarding this morning’s press conference to announce the opening of a Moderna vaccine facility in Montreal, Premier Fran?ois Legault noted that Montreal was the ideal location for an mRNA vaccine facility because 50% of research in mRNA technology in Canada occurs in Quebec.?
Santé Québec reported 12,231 new cases with 165 virus-related deaths in the last 7 days. There was a net weekly decrease of 120 hospitalizations, bringing the total number of people being treated in hospital with the virus to 2,290. There was also a net decrease of 7 patients in intensive care in the last 7 days, bringing the total to 81.
More than 19.7 million vaccine doses have been administered to Quebecers residing in and outside the province. The Santé Québec COVID-19 dashboard shows that 91% of the total eligible people aged 5 years and older have received their first vaccine dose and 87% their second dose while 54% of the total eligible people have received their third vaccine dose.
Alberta
Public health officials provided a COVID-19 update in a press conference Wednesday . Jason Copping, Alberta’s Minister of Health, stated that PCR and waste water testing is showing “signs of slowing (COVID-19) transmission in the Alberta”. Minister Copping also indicated that the positivity rate in the province is at the lowest it has been for the last month. However, Minister Copping stated that hospitals in Alberta continue to be under “significant pressures” and that “several of (Alberta’s) largest sites in Edmonton and in Calgary are over 100 per cent occupancy, and emergency departments and EMS are under real strain now.”
In the same press conference, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, indicated that public health officials in Alberta have received many questions about oral COVID-19 treatments such as Paxlovid. Dr. Hinshaw stated that the benefits of oral COVID-19 treatments depends on the risk the individual faces from COVID-19. For instance, unvaccinated elderly individuals will receive greater benefits from oral COVID-19 treatments compared to fully vaccinated younger individuals.
Alberta Health Service data shows a provincial positivity rate is 25.75%. Currently, 1,220 individuals are being treated for COVID-19 in hospital, 47 of whom are in intensive care. To date, 8,698,772 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the province. This means that 90.3% of eligible people 12 years and older have now received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, 86.8% have received their second dose, and 37.2% have received their third dose.
British Columbia
CTV News is reporting that the government of British Columbia is coming under increased criticism over its lack of COVID-19 related data. In early April, public health officials in British Columbia announced that the province will only provide COVID-19 data once a week. However, the B.C. COVID-19 modelling group, comprised of university professors and data scientists, have criticized this decision as well as the consistency of new data.
Jens Von Bermann, a data scientist for the group, stated “definitions have changed and aren't really comparable through time, the data we get is quite out of date at this point since we only get it on a weekly interval, and even then it's revisionary, given all the lags, it's hard to do anything useful, and I think at this point … we just can't do predictions anymore for B.C. We'll still try to look at what we can say about where we're at broadly."
British Columbia’s Health Services most recent COVID-19 data shows that there were 2,276 new cases and 42 new COVID-19 related deaths in the past week. There are 570 individuals being treated for COVID-19 in hospital and 47 individuals are in intensive care. Vaccination data shows that 90.2% of eligible people have now received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, 87.2% have received their second dose, and 52.1% have received their third dose.
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Glad to discuss further.?
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