Coronavirus Update: Canadians over 18 get green light on booster shot

Good evening, here are the COVID-19 updates you need to know tonight.

Top headlines:

1. Health Canada approved a booster shot of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for people over the age of 18
2. U.S. President Joe Biden will host Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President in Washington to discuss issues including combatting COVID-19, competitiveness, and immigration, according to sources
3. Despite a recent rise in COVID-19 cases, Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott says the province won’t change course on reopening plans

In the past seven days, 16,949 cases were reported, up 6 per cent from the previous seven days. There were 159 deaths announced, down 26 per cent over the same period. At least 1,824 people are being treated in hospitals and 1,684,179 others are considered recovered.

Canada’s inoculation rate is 15th among countries with a population of one million or more people.

Sources: Canada data is compiled from government websites, Johns Hopkins and COVID-19 Canada Open Data Working Group; international data is from Johns Hopkins University.

Coronavirus explainers: Coronavirus in maps and charts • Tracking vaccine doses • Lockdown rules and reopening

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Coronavirus in Canada

• Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott says the government isn’t changing course on its reopening plan despite a recent rise in COVID-19 infections. Tuesday saw 441 new cases reported in the province and a seven-day average of 492 daily infections, up from 371 a week ago.
• Quebec is expanding eligibility for COVID-19 vaccine booster shots to the general population aged 70 and older, Health Minister Christian Dubé said. They will also be available for residents who received two doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
• In Saskatchewan, dozens of health care services that were cut in September due to a surge in COVID-19 cases will return as cases decline. Throughout the month, hundreds of health care workers who were deployed to help with COVID-19 testing and contact tracing will return to their original jobs.

Health Canada has approved a booster dose of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for people over the age of 18.

• The booster is identical to the regular Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and is to be given at least six months after the first two vaccine doses.
• Clinical trials have shown side effects more or less the same as those experienced with the original two doses of the vaccine.

Canada-U.S. border: Residents of a New York border town are eager to welcome Canadians now that land border restrictions have eased, but they worry that costly PCR tests will keep many travellers away.

Coronavirus around the world

• According to sources, U.S. President Joe Biden will hold a summit with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador later this month to discuss key issues including battling COVID-19, competitiveness, and immigration
• Amid a spike in cases, the European Union is set to authorize the use of two monoclonal antibodies to treat COVID-19 patients
• France’s public-health authority is advising that Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine not be given to people under 30

Coronavirus and business

Faced with a deadly pandemic and flush with cash, millions more Americans than usual have opted to retire. But Canadians haven’t followed suit.

• The pandemic also poses a greater health risk to older age brackets, adding another incentive to ditch the workplace.
• Still, that was not enough to lure Canadians into early retirement. The median age of retirement in 2020 was 64.6 years, the highest since 1986, and part of a long-standing trend of Canadians working later in life.

Also today: Highlighting the pandemic’s unusual effect on the economy, the number of business insolvencies in Canada dropped to a new record low in the third quarter of 2021.

And: A year since Pfizer announced a breakthrough on its COVID-19 vaccine, many of the markets that were expected to benefit from economies reopening have underwhelmed.

Globe opinion

• André Picard: Will COVID-19 spending data finally force us to take home care seriously?

More reporting

• Some lucky people retired early during the pandemic. How did they structure their finances?
• Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers admits misleading people on his vaccine status, but stands by remarks
• A new report has found that U.S. credit card use is returning to pre-pandemic patterns

Information centre

• Everything you need to know about Canada’s travel restrictions for vaccinated and unvaccinated people
• Waiting for a second dose? We answer your COVID-19 vaccine questions
• What is and isn’t ‘paid sick leave’ in Canada? A short primer
• Got a vaccine ‘hangover’? Here’s why

Sources: Canada data are compiled from government websites, Johns Hopkins University and COVID-19 Canada Open Data Working Group; international data are from Johns Hopkins.

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