Morning Update: Untangling the vaccine-related blood-clot mystery

Good morning,

As Canada backs away from the AstraZeneca vaccine in favour of other options, scientists are urgently trying to understand why, in very few cases, the vaccine causes blood clots – a condition dubbed vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia, or VITT.

One question that experts have explored is if VITT is as rare as it seems or whether there are milder cases that have gone undiagnosed. As of Thursday, 18 cases had been confirmed in Canada with at least 10 more people undergoing testing. Estimates from the Public Health Agency of Canada suggest the frequency could be around one in 55,000.

While Canada has other vaccine options, AstraZeneca is key in the global fight against COVID-19. Fifty-nine million doses of the vaccine have shipped to 122 countries in the global vaccine-distribution initiative known as COVAX. “It’s the workhorse for global vaccination in terms of supply available to places that don’t have their own domestic capacity,” said Srinivas Murthy, an infectious-disease specialist at the BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver.

Meanwhile, the death of an Alberta woman from a blood clot linked to AstraZeneca has experts grappling with how to recognize the signs and symptoms of the rare condition. Most doctors who encounter a patient with a suspected case of a blood clot will not have seen it before, experts say, and the symptoms can be vague: severe headaches, shortness of breath, chest and stomach pain and blurry vision, among others.

Provincial health authorities and researchers are distributing information for doctors about how to diagnose VITT. Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, for example, has published guides for health care workers.

More COVID-19 news:

• Ontario extends COVID-19 stay-at-home order, keeps schools closed
• CDC eases indoor mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated Americans

This is the daily Morning Update newsletter. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for Morning Update and more than 20 more Globe newsletters on our newsletter signup page.

Trudeau didn’t break the law in WE Charity scandal, commissioner finds

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not breach the Conflict of Interest Act in the WE Charity controversy, but former finance minister Bill Morneau did, the federal Ethics Commissioner has ruled. Commissioner Mario Dion found that Mr. Trudeau was in an apparent conflict of interest, but that perception did not amount to a violation of the federal law. Mr. Dion released two reports Thursday, almost a year after the eruption of the controversy that led to multiple probes by House of Commons committees and officers of Parliament, Mr. Morneau’s resignation and the downfall of one of Canada’s most prominent charities.

Mideast violence enters fifth day

Israeli ground forces carried out attacks on the Gaza Strip early Friday in an escalation of a conflict with Palestinian militants that had been waged by airstrikes from Israel and rockets from Gaza. It was not immediately clear if the attack was the prelude to a ground invasion against Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls Gaza. Palestinian militants have fired some 1,800 rockets, and the Israeli military has launched more than 600 airstrikes, toppling at least three high-rise apartment buildings, and has shelled some areas with tanks stationed near the frontier.

Read also:

• “Israelis know how to endure war, siege, boycotts and terror atrocities. But we don’t know how to cope with Jewish mobs and Arab mobs roaming our streets, attacking synagogues and mosques and lynching their fellow citizens. How do we fight a war against terrorists when we internalize the terror and turn against each other? Is this how Israel unravels?” writes Yossi Klein Halevi, senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem
• And The Globe’s Doug Saunders writes, “Without a real peace process to return to, or parties in power in Israel or the Palestinian territories that are interested in recognizing one another, there is little to stop this from escalating into a lasting war.”

Listen: Today on The Decibel

Senior International Correspondent Mark MacKinnon is on The Decibel to discuss the latest rise in violence in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

Listen and follow The Decibel in your favourite streaming app: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Pocket Casts or RSS.

Got a news tip that you’d like us to look into? E-mail us at tips@globeandmail.com Need to share documents securely? Reach out via SecureDrop

ALSO ON OUR RADAR

Quebec seeks to amend Constitution with new language law François Legault’s government has introduced sweeping changes to provincial language laws that would amend the Canadian Constitution to recognize Quebec as a nation and French as its only official and common language. The surprise constitutional initiative, contained in draft legislation, would try to use a section of the Constitution that allows provinces to make changes unilaterally if they have no effect on other provinces or the foundation of federalism.

Strife in Jason Kenney’s UCP hits new highs Internal strife in Jason Kenney’s government burst into the open on Thursday, with MLAs Drew Barnes and Todd Loewen being ejected from caucus after a vote by their peers. Barnes and Loewen were two of the signatories to an April letter from a group of UCP MLAs opposing the province’s pandemic health restrictions. Mr. Kenney has faced criticism of the province’s health restrictions from his MLAs for weeks. Alberta is in the midst of a massive third wave of COVID-19, with the highest infection rate in North America, and an active case rate more than twice the national figure

Greyhound cancels last of its routes in Canada Regional bus company Greyhound Lines Inc. has permanently cancelled the last of its Canadian routes, blaming a lack of government aid, deregulation of the industry and competition from Via Rail. More than 400 workers – including 300 union members – will lose their jobs as a result of Greyhound’s pullout, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) said.

MORNING MARKETS

World stocks advance: Global stocks edged higher and the U.S. dollar dipped on Friday after U.S. Federal Reserve officials said there would be no imminent move to tighten monetary policy in the world’s biggest economy. Just before 6 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.58 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.55 per cent and 0.65 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei finished up 2.32 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.11 per cent. New York futures were higher. The Canadian dollar was trading at 82.38 US cents.

WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

Liz Cheney is right: The big lie is part of a dangerous game

Elizabeth Renzetti: “The war Liz Cheney is engaged in is not some minor, internecine party squabble (or at least it’s not only that). It’s actually a battle over the fundamental issues of civic trust, and who gets to manipulate public disillusionment for political gain.”

The pandemic political peace accord is officially over – and partisan vitriol is back

Gary Mason: “While life hasn’t returned to normal for most of us, it has for our political leaders. The bitterness and contempt that has become a hallmark of our modern politics is back. I never thought I could miss any aspect of the early days of the pandemic – but in this one case, I’m finding myself a bit nostalgic.”

If South Asia’s pandemic isn’t addressed as a whole, India’s COVID-19 crisis could be just the beginning

Veena Sriram, Sara Shneiderman, Drona Rasali, Md Zabir Hasan, Shashika Bandara: “This is not the time for siloed, fragmented approaches. A co-ordinated, regional approach to combating the COVID-19 pandemic is urgently required in South Asia. Lives in one country are no more precious than lives in another, and the regional spread of COVID has major repercussions for all countries, in Asia and beyond.”

TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON

Open this photo in gallery:

LIVING BETTER

Heirloom seeds are one of the pandemic’s biggest gardening trends. It’s not too late to plant some

Heirloom seeds are in big demand as pandemic gardeners branch out to fun and fancy varieties like purple-podded peas, heart-shaped cherry tomatoes and sun-loving cucamelons (yes, you read that right). Here’s how to get started.

MOMENT IN TIME: May 14, 1969

Open this photo in gallery:

Canada passes Bill C-150, leading to decriminalization of homosexual acts

On this day in 1969, Canada passed an omnibus bill that paved the way to the decriminalization of homosexuality, among other contentious changes. Bill C-150 was adopted 149-55 after a 20-month-long debate and a six-month filibuster where Creditiste MPs introduced an amendment that pushed back the third reading of the bill. During one of the debates, then-Creditiste leader Réal Caouette told colleagues in the House of Commons that instead of legalizing homosexual acts, Parliament should introduce a bill that would create a hospital to “treat” homosexuals and pass a bill to educate people on marriage. He also suggested television broadcasts to “educate people on the evils of homosexuality.” In the months before the bill’s royal assent, however, the Commons justice committee approved the amendments to the Criminal Code and exempted “homosexuals who aren’t likely to cause injury, pain or evil” from the dangerous sexual offenders’ list. And ultimately, the politicians voted to adopt the changes, supporting then-prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who had once famously said, “There’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation.” When the bill came into effect on Aug. 26, homosexual acts became legal, but only between two consenting adults 21 or older, and behind closed doors. -Elena De Luigi

Read today's horoscopes. Enjoy today's puzzles.

If you’d like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday morning, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.