Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, received their first shot of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine Friday at a Rexall pharmacy in downtown Ottawa.Pharmacist Zaineb Hassan disinfected a spot on Trudeau's left arm where the prime minister has an Indigenous tattoo, before he jokingly asked his wife to hold his right hand while he received the vaccine dose.Trudeau told the pharmacist he was "very excited" before Hassan injected the shot into Trudeau's arm and covered the spot with a bandage.Hassan then gave Gregoire Trudeau her vaccine shot and told the coupl

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada has reached an agreement with Pfizer for 35 million booster doses for next year, and 30 million in the year after.He says the deal includes options to add 30 million doses in both 2022 and 2023, and an option for 60 million doses in 2024.Booster shots are expected to be important as the virus continues to mutate, similar to how the flu shot is altered every year to be effective against the most dominant strain.Trudeau says these boosters will be the latest version of the Pfizer vaccine based on research and testing, and they will help Canada keep the v

Ontario has reported its first case of a rare blood clot in a person who received the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.Dr. David Williams, Ontario's top doctor, says the 60-year-old patient had received his first dose of the vaccine.Williams says the man has been treated and is recovering at home.It's the fourth case of the rare clotting condition in Canada, out of more than 1.1 million AstraZeneca doses administered across the country.B.C. has been facing a stark shortage of the AstraZeneca vaccine, with several doses being diverted from Vancouver Island Health to the Lower Mainland

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says suspending incoming passenger flights from India and Pakistan for the next month must be done to keep Canadians safe. Trudeau says it's necessary because there has been a concerning surge of COVID-19 cases and the emergence of more variants of concern in certain parts of the world.Also, the federal health minister has said half of the people who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus after arriving in Canada by plane have come from India.The new travel measures were announced yesterday following pressure from provincial leaders, who said not enough w

Canada's top public health doctor says there's been an increase of more than 200,000 COVID-19 cases since last month, but there are signs the epidemic is easing.Dr. Theresa Tam says average case counts have more than doubled over the past month, with upwards of 8,400 infections reported daily over the last week.But Tam says there's reason for hope due to Canada's declining reproduction rate, which represents how many people are infected by each new case.She says this measure has fallen below the key threshold of one for the first time in weeks, meaning the rate of transmission is trending dow

Transport Canada is halting all direct passenger air traffic from India and Pakistan for 30-days, starting at 11:30 tonight. Transport Minister Omar Alghabra says cargo flights will be allowed to ensure the continued supply of vaccines and PPE. Alghabra says passengers who depart from the two countries via an indirect route will need obtain a negative COVID-19 test at their last point of departure. The announcement comes just after MPs voted in favour of Canada suspending international flights from countries where COVID-19 outbreaks are raging.

The man in charge of Canada's COVID-19 vaccine rollout is warning there will be more delays in the delivery of the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot before June. Major-General Dany Fortin says escalating case numbers in India mean shipments of the vaccine from that country are temporarily on hold. India is reporting a global record daily tally of more than 314-thousand new infections. Deputy Chief Public Health Minister Dr. Howard Njoo says Canada will be making adjustments at the border for incoming flights ``very soon.'' Njoo says the prime minister and the government are looking at COVID-19 data an

The Journal de Montreal newspaper is being criticized for running a photo from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's 2018 trip to India on its front page today to accompany a COVID-19 story. Trudeau is wearing traditional Indian clothes and holding his hands together in prayer beside a caption that reads, ``The Indian variant has arrived.'' The cover refers to Quebec's first case of a novel coronavirus variant that emerged in India, and it asks ``Justin'' whether ties with India will be cut quickly. Benoit Charette, the provincial minister responsible for fighting racism, said today on Twitter he f

More than 10 million Canadians have now received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. The milestone was passed this morning. There are, however, still fewer than one million people who have received both required doses of vaccine. Second doses are being delayed up to four months so more people can get their first dose earlier. Canada is vaccinating people more than twice as fast as it was a month ago, but the number of doses given each day slowed this week due to supply issues. In total more than 10.8 million vaccines have been administered throughout Canada.