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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is defending the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine as some European countries have suspended its use.
During a news conference in Montreal today, the Prime Minister said public health experts are working off the best data and only allowing the use of vaccines that are safe and efficient “including AstraZeneca.”
Concerns have been raised after blood clots occurred in some individuals after vaccination. Germany, France and Italy have suspended the use of AstraZeneca following Denmark, Norway and Iceland. Canada approved the use of AstraZeneca vaccine on Feb. 26. The first 500,000 doses were distributed to the provinces last week as blood-clot concerns began to arise.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Health Canada’s chief medical adviser there is no scientific explanation to suggest a link between AstraZeneca and blood clots. Dr. Supriya Sharma says Health Canada has a “really low threshold” for adverse events that could trigger a pause in using a vaccine, and wouldn’t hesitate to do so if something warranted it.
Mr. Trudeau said the government is following what has happened with a specific batch in Europe.
“I can reassure all Canadians that there is no dose of AstraZeneca that came from the same batch as the one that has caused concern in Europe, but at every step of the way the health and safety of all Canadians is the priority of Health Canada.”
Quebec Premier François Legault, also at the news conference, said there is no risk associated with the vaccine. “It’s important for all Quebeckers to understand that all the vaccines being offered to them are without any risk whatsoever,” said Mr. Legault.
The Danish Medicines Agency says a 60-year-old woman who died of a blood clot after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine had “highly unusual” symptoms, notably a low number of blood platelets and clots in small and large vessels, as well as bleeding.
AstraZeneca Plc said on Sunday a review of safety data of people vaccinated with its COVID-19 vaccine has shown no evidence of an increased risk of blood clots. Both the European Medicines Agency and World Health Organization have said the vaccine is safe.
Asked about the timing of his own vaccination, Mr. Trudeau said he is focused on people who are vulnerable getting their shots first. “I am not overly focused on when my turn will come,” he said. “I will wait my turn.”
Mr. Trudeau’s presence in Quebec marked a rare trip the city during the pandemic. He was last there last August.
Today, he announced an investment of nearly $100-million (split equally between Quebec and Ottawa) to Lion Electric to establish an automated battery-pack assembly plant in Saint‑Jérôme, in the Laurentians, for electric vehicles.
The trip included a meeting with Premier Legault, their first in person in about a year, which the Premier described as positive for the opportunity to discuss health transfers and other issues.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
The federal government is in advanced talks with U.S. pharmaceutical giant Emergent BioSolutions to fund the expansion of its Winnipeg plant, which already has the technology to do the final stages of production for several types of vaccines, including the highly sought-after mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.
The Public Health Agency of Canada is expecting a smaller-than-normal shipment of COVID-19 vaccines this week, with fewer than 445,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech shots scheduled for delivery over the next seven days. Yet that seeming trickle is set to explode into a full-blown flood starting the week of March 22 as the companies dramatically ramp up their deliveries and other pharmaceutical firms start making good on their own promised shipments.
The federal government will, on Tuesday, sign a new agreement with Germany to work together on the clean-energy transition, including developing policies and regulations, and integrating large shares of renewables into electricity systems.
Amidst speculation about a federal election, and the challenges facing the Newfoundland election, there’s a new Canadian pandemic-era election under way. Details here.
Former prime minister Stephen Harper returned to the spotlight Friday, telling the Ottawa Conference on Security and Defence that the year-long global pandemic has exacerbated the gulf between elites and the majority of working people, whom politicians are ignoring at their peril. “The increase in income and wealth for the highest echelons of society has been unprecedented frankly since the age of the robber barons,” he said.
Sex workers say they are not having the opportunity to offer their views to a parliamentary committee studying the pornography sector.
OTTAWA ROUNDUP
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
Several events in Montreal, including a visit to a vaccination clinic, meeting with Premier François Legault, and a news conference. Mr. Trudeau is also chairing the cabinet meeting.
POLLING
Maclean’s Philippe J. Fournier on trouble in Alberta for Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party.
OPINION
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on the challenges Canada would face to get rid of the monarchy: “The monarchy is intertwined in the Canadian tradition and Constitution, which created a British-style system but with powerful provinces. Which means there isn’t an easy way to undo the monarchy, and 10 provinces, plus Ottawa, will have to agree. And coming to unanimous agreement on major constitutional change isn’t, as a rule, something Canada does.”
Kelly Cryderman (The Globe and Mail) on a “coherent plan” to bridge the gap between keeping Alberta’s economy going and the federal government’s climate targets: “Alberta has joined the conservative governments of Ontario and Saskatchewan in bringing the battle against Ottawa’s carbon pricing system to the Supreme Court of Canada. And the Premier and his cabinet are still inclined to adopt a confrontational tone with the federal Liberals. But these days, there are quiet signs the province is looking beyond the high court’s decision – win or lose – to work with Ottawa on a more nuanced take on the climate file, focusing on industrial emissions.”
Don Martin (CTV) on the stronger Official Opposition Prime Minister Justin Trudeau needs: With so much going so wrong for this Prime Minister, the Conservatives should be hauling in a bounty of first-place ribbons from a parliamentary field day on this, the first anniversary of a planetary pandemic. But you’d never know it reading the gloomy state of the party as it approaches a policy convention already being billed as leader Erin O’Toole’s first and perhaps last gathering of the faithful should he, as the polls suggest now, face a leadership mutiny after losing the next election.”
David Moscrop (The Globe and Mail) on what we risk losing if the pandemic destroys our faith in institutions: “Botched or unevenly administered lockdown strategies, doubts and despair about vaccine procurement, and confusion about vaccination programs have certainly damaged Canadians’ faith in voices of authority. Dangerous conspiracy theories have filled in the gaps left by unclear communications amid public-health recommendations that sometimes shifted without adequate explanation. We’ve watched with growing cynicism as politicians hedged and dissembled and hemmed and hawed, making partisan plays while telling us that this crisis wasn’t “the time for politics.”
Steve Paikin (TVO) on the worst thing he has ever heard an Ontario premier say: “Seriously, though, what in heaven’s name was Premier Doug Ford thinking?”
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