Health Canada has approved the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech, paving the way for vaccinations to begin countrywide next week. Dr. Supriya Sharma, the chief medical adviser to Health Canada, says the authorization follows a science and evidence-based review. Sharma says there's no significant evidence of severe adverse reactions to the shot.Dr. Sharma says she and other health officials are amazed at the accomplishment in such a short time. Supriya Sharma says they are making the approval process as open and transparent as possible by publishing the technical information for each va

An evidence-gathering hearing in the extradition case of Meng Wanzhou has heard from a senior manager with the Canada Border Services Agency, who told BC's Supreme Court she was instructed not to take notes after the arrest of the Huawei executive. Nicole Goodman testified today that she wanted to create a case summary or timeline of events, but was warned by the agency's then-regional director general that the record could later be obtained through an access to information request. The court is hearing witness testimony that Meng's lawyers will use to bolster an abuse of process claim next y

Five mink on a Fraser Valley mink farm have tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19 in humans. The BC Ministry of Agriculture says the farm has been quarantined and testing to determine the genome sequence of the strain of virus continues. An outbreak was declared at the farm this week when several workers tested positive for COVID-19. Test results from five mink samples taken from a Fraser Valley mink farm have all been confirmed positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 in humans. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said then that the outbreak was concerning

US President Donald Trump's campaign is joining an improbable case before the Supreme Court, challenging election results in Pennsylvania and other states that he lost. Trump is apparently trying to look past the justices' rejection of a last-gasp bid to reverse Pennsylvania's certification of Democrat Joe Biden's victory. The suit by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, demands the 62 total Electoral College votes in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin be invalidated.

The BC government says 194 tickets have been handed out in the last three and a half months to businesses or individuals who have broken the provincial health officer's orders on COVID-19. The tickets include three dozen 2,300 dollar fines to owners or organizers of gatherings or events. Another 142 people received 230 dollar fines for refusing to comply with the direction of law enforcement. The province formally extended its state of emergency yesterday, allowing officials to keep using extraordinary powers under the Emergency Program Act in response to the pandemic.

The City of Vancouver's 1.6 billion dollar COVID-19 response budget for 2021 has passed after nearly 139 million dollars in pandemic-related losses. Mayor Kennedy Stewart says the budget includes more money for overdose response efforts, supports for small businesses, as well as housing, sanitation and community policing. He says the budget also keeps property tax increases at five per cent and holds the city's largest line item, the police budget, to 2020 levels. Police chief Adam Palmer says he's disappointed the force asked for 322 million dollars to maintain current staffing levels and fi

There will be more information on the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines today with a briefing that includes provincial health officer Doctor Bonnie Henry, Premier John Horgan and Health Minister Adrian Dix. Horgan tweeted yesterday that the first vaccine doses are just days away and about four-thousand high-risk people in B-C will be immunized by the end of next week. BC recorded 566 more cases yesterday and another 16 deaths. A statement from Henry and Dix says while it's encouraging the cases numbers are trending down, the number of people in hospital remains high and public health restrictions

Police say a participant in a recent anti-mask protest in Vancouver was arrested shortly after for allegedly threatening another man with dog spray. He had left the protest and was allegedly yelling obscenities without practising physically distancing when the other man called him a "disgrace." Officers arrested the protesting man for uttering threats, and he's been issued two tickets under the province's COVID-19 Related Measures Act. Around 500 rallied against public health public health orders outside the Vancouver Art Gallery Saturday, including the former anthem singer for the Vancouver

Health Canada has approved the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech, the first to be given the green light for national use. Canada is set to receive four million doses of the Pfizer vaccine by March, including up to 249,000 doses this month, with the first shipment set to arrive next week.The federal government has purchased 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which requires people to receive two doses each, and has the option to buy 56 million more.Pfizer needs to store its vaccine at ultracold temperatures below -70 C and so the company is planning to ship the doses directly to pr