Health Canada's chief medical adviser says her advice is still to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as you can, with whatever vaccine you can. Dr. Supriya Sharma says the risk of a new blood clotting syndrome from the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot is extremely low. A third Canadian has now died of the syndrome, a New Brunswick resident in their 60s. This morning, Canada became the first country in the world to authorize the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for kids as young as 12, effective immediately. Dr. Sharma says that as early as next week, Health Canada could begin examining whether people who

Homicide investigators have now taken over the case after the death of a woman injured Tuesday night in a shooting in Surrey, B.C. A social media message from the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team confirmed the unnamed victim died in hospital. Surrey RCMP say officers responded to reports of shots fired in a residential neighbourhood of northeast Surrey just before 9 p.m. Tuesday. Officers located the victim and arrested a man a short distance away. Police have not confirmed a motive for the attack. It's the latest in a string of targeted shootings in Metro Vancouver in recent days, incl

Health Canada says the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine can now be given to kids as young as 12.The vaccine was previously authorized for anyone at least 16 years of age or older.A trial of more than 2,200 youth in that age group in the United States recorded no cases of COVID-19 among vaccinated kids.Health Canada's chief medical adviser Dr. Supriya Sharma says the evidence is there that the vaccine is safe and effective in that age group.It is the first vaccine approved for children in Canada, and Sharma says it is a significant step forward in Canada's fight against COVID-19.The trial used the same

Those who are pregnant in British Columbia have now been designated a priority population to receive COVID-19 vaccine. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says data shows pregnant people experience severe illness from COVID-19 at a rate similar to those who are in their 50s. She says prioritizing people who are pregnant and 16 years and older for vaccination will help protect them, their babies and the wider community. B.C. has recorded 697 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 132,353, along with one new death. There are 7,161 active COVID-19 cases, with 486 people hospitalized. More

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government's advice that people should get vaccinated as soon as it's their turn has not changed. He made the comment after a federal panel said vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are ``preferred.'' Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the only way Canada brings the pandemic to a close is for everyone to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Amid a flurry of fear and frustration over new advice from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization, Trudeau says he's glad he was given the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Trudeau also announced that one-milli

A man has suffered potentially life-threatening injuries in a brazen daylight shooting outside a busy shopping mall in Langley, B.C.A statement from the RCMP says it happened Monday just after 3:30 p.m. in the parking lot of Willowbrook Shopping Centre, 45 kilometres east of Vancouver.Investigators say the shooting does not appear random and few other details have been released.It was the fourth shooting in Metro Vancouver in as many days.There was an attack Sunday in Burnaby on a woman who is expected to survive, the fatal shooting Saturday of a 29-year-old corrections officer in the parking

The expected arrival of more than one million COVID-19 vaccine doses this month has British Columbia health officials forecasting shorter waits between first and second doses for more people. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says the increasing vaccine shipments could see the estimated 16-week interval between the first and second shots reduced. But Dr. Henry says it's still too early to concretely estimate the possible difference in wait times other than saying all people in B.C. could get their first vaccines before Canada Day. She says B.C. expects to receive 1.1 million doses of

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization says the Johnson & Johnson vaccine should be limited to people over the age of 30 who don't want to wait for Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna. The advice is almost identical to that issued for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine last month and comes as both are suspected of causing a new and very rare blood clotting syndrome. In Canada there have been seven known cases of vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia, or VITT, one of them fatal. As of April 24, 1.7 million people in Canada have been given at least one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. No

A provincial corrections officer has been identified as the victim of a fatal shooting in Delta, B.C.The victim has been identified as Bikramdeep Randhawa, 29, of Surrey, B.C.Delta Police say in a news release they are considering the daylight shooting outside the Scottsdale Centre mall Saturday to be targeted based on behaviour by the suspects, but the motive is not known.They say investigators are looking at all angles, including that it was a case of mistaken identity, that it related to the man's personal life or that it was linked to his occupation.Police say they are in contact with oth