Chief medical adviser Dr. Supriya Sharma says there is no evidence showing certain people are more at risk than others and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine will remain authorized for all adults in Canada, along with the others that have been approved for use so far. Dr. Supriya Sharma says the vaccine, along with others approved for use so far, is safe for anyone to take. Dr. Supriya Sharma, chief medical adviser with Health Canada, says the conclusions come after the department's drug regulatory experts completed a review of safety data, and are in line with those issued in Europe and the Unite

A Quebec woman has developed a blood clot after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, in Canada's first case of the rare condition. Federal and provincial health officials say the woman got an Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine that was produced at the Serum Institute of India, known as Covishield. The agency says the person is now recovering at home. Health Canada says the side-effect is extremely rare and the vaccine's benefits still outweigh its risks. More than 700,000 doses of the vaccine have been administered in Canada. In the House of Commons today, Health Minister Patty Hajdu was asked by the Conser

Canada's chief public health officer has received her first shot of COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Theresa Tam told an Ottawa news conference today she was unaware of what type of vaccine she was getting until she received an email before getting the shot.Dr. Tam says she received a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Record number of COVID-19 patients in ICU's There are a record number of COVID-19 patients in Canada's intensive care units. Dr. Theresa Tam, the chief public health officer, says an average of 970 people have been in ICUs over the last week. The highest 7-day average previously was 880

Health Canada says it is investigating reports the Johnson &Johnson COVID-19 vaccine may be linked to extremely rare cases of blood clots. In a tweet, the Canadian drug regulator says it is following the issue closely and is working with the manufacturer, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other international regulators. Health Canada also says it has asked Janssen, the pharmaceutical arm of Johnson & Johnson, to provide information on any blood-clotting cases. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration issued a joint state

The US is recommending a pause in the use of a COVID-19 vaccine approved for use in Canada, but not yet available here. It is investigating six reports of blood clots possibly linked to the single-dose Johnson & Johnson shot. Six women out of more than 6.8-million Americans who received the J&J vaccine developed clots in a6 to 13 day span. One died. Johnson & Johnson now says it is delaying the rollout of its vaccine in Europe due to the US investigation. The vaccine was approved for use in Canada in early March, with the federal government saying it had pre-purchased 10 million

Air Canada and Ottawa have agreed to financing deals that would allow the airline to access as much as $5.9 billion through the Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility program. As part of the package, Air Canada has agreed to a number of commitments, including refunds for some customers who did not travel due to COVID-19 and a promise to resume service at some regional airports. Other restrictions include limits on executive compensation and maintaining a minimum number of staff. Travel restrictions introduced through the beginning of the pandemic have been catastrophic for the airline in

Canada's chief public health officer says the number of patients being hospitalized for COVID-19 is on the rise as more contagious variants of the virus spread in many parts of the country. Dr. Theresa Tam says hospitals treated an average of more than 2,500 patients with COVID-19 each day last week, a seven per cent increase compared to the previous week. Tam says 860 of these patients were in intensive-care units, which is an increase of 23 per cent over the previous week. Ontario hospitals have been asked to ramp down elective surgeries and non-urgent procedures in order to cope with the in

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says stricter measures are needed in several parts of the country as more contagious variants of COVID-19 send younger people to hospital. Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam told the same federal briefing that hospital admissions are up seven per cent week-over-week, with the number of cases linked to more contagious variants almost doubling. The federal government has now delivered more than 10.5-million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the provinces and territories. Trudeau says Canada is expected to have received at least 44-million doses from Pfizer, Mo

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been successful in northern communities thanks to the collaboration between Ottawa and the country's Inuit leadership. Speaking at the fourth annual Inuit-Crown Partnership Committee, Trudeau says more work is needed to close gaps in food security, housing and health care. He says the pandemic has highlighted existing economic and social inequalities the Inuit have faced for a long time. But Trudeau also says the pandemic didn't hit northern populations as hard as the rest of the country, nor were its effects