Canada could get up to 1.1 million additional doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine by the end of March through the global vaccine-sharing initiative COVAX. That's if and when it's approved by Health Canada, and would be over and above Ottawa's existing agreement with the drugmaker. And since there is the potential for production delays, COVAX is giving countries a range of potential deliveries. Canada was told it would get between 1.9 million and 3.2 million doses by the end of June, with between 500,000 and 1.1 million of those arriving before the end of next month. The vaccine alliance

A longtime labour and human rights leader in British Columbia has died. The family of Charan Gill say he died in hospital on Feb. 2, following a battle with cancer. Gill was 84. Born in Hong Kong and raised in India, Gill moved to Canada in 1967, settling in Surrey, where he co-founded the Canadian Farmworkers Union and the British Columbia Organization to Fight Racism. The farm workers union led to improved pay, benefits and working conditions for farm and ranch workers across Canada while the organization to fight racism was instrumental in stemming the growth of racist groups in B.C. Gill

British Columbia health officials say there's an encouraging trend in the COVID-19 curve in the province with the efforts of residents making a difference. It comes as the state of emergency was extended again in B.C. on Tuesday, allowing officials to use its extraordinary powers to respond to the pandemic. In a joint statement, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix reported 429 new cases and eight deaths, bringing to 1,218 the number of fatalities liked to COVID-19. The statement says with people in B.C. following the restrictions, the COVID-19 spread is s

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada has signed a tentative agreement for Novavax to produce millions of doses of its COVID-19 vaccine in Canada once it's approved for use here.The U.S. company is still doing clinical trials of its vaccine but if Health Canada approves it, a new National Research Council facility in Montreal will begin pumping out Novavax doses when the building is finished later this year.It would be the first COVID-19 vaccine to be produced domestically.Canada is currently at the mercy of foreign governments, which could at any time slam the doors shut to vaccine export

BC is reporting 1,158 new cases of COVID-19 over the past three days as well as 21 additional deaths. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says 18 cases of new COVID-19 variants have now been confirmed in the province, four of the South Africa variant and 14 of the fast-spreading virus first found in the UK. Dr. Henry says the province has stepped up testing for the new variants in outbreaks and among international travellers. She says cases of the new variants show why it's important to avoid social gatherings and she's urging people not to hold Super Bowl parties next weekend. British

Health officials in British Columbia say specific students and staff at a Maple Ridge high school will receive COVID-19 tests after a person at the school had close contact with someone carrying a new strain of the virus that causes the illness.Fraser Health says Garibaldi Secondary School remains open while efforts are underway to manage the exposure because the variant strain is not one currently in the community. Mutations of COVID-19 are known to spread more quickly, but doctors say they do not seem to cause more severe illness, interfere with the effectiveness of vaccines or affect testi

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada’s air carriers have agreed to suspend service to the Caribbean and Mexico beginning this Sunday. The restriction will remain in place till April 30th. Speaking outside his home in Ottawa this morning, Trudeau said this involves flights with Air Canada, WestJet, Sunwing and Air Transat. Trudeau also announced that all international flights will only be allowed to land at one of four airports: Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal. Passengers entering Canada must also undergo a PCR test for COVID-19 upon arrival, then self-isolate at an approved hot

Vancouver Coastal Health says 288 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Whistler from the start of the year through Tuesday. It says most of them are young people in their 20s and 30s who live, work and socialize together. The health agency is urging Whistler residents and potential visitors to continue to follow public health restrictions to lower the rising number of COVID-19 infections. It says Whistler experienced a similar spike in cases in November, which was resolved in early December. B.C. reported 546 new cases, including five epi-linked cases, for a total of 66,265 cases. There a

The man overseeing the country's national vaccine rollout says Canada is getting 149,000 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine over the next two weeks. That's only one-fifth of what had been promised before the company slowed production in a bid to ramp up operations in Belgium. Canada has been saying for several weeks that the shipments would return to normal in mid-February, but Maj. Gen. Dany Fortin now says Pfizer is sending 335,000 doses the week of Feb. 15, which is still only 91 per cent of the previous delivery schedule. Fortin says the deliveries still are based on five doses per vial.