Public Advisory: Update on IT Outage Regarding Health-Related Services - News Releases - Government of Newfoundland and Labrador

The Department of Health and Community Services continues to assess an IT systems outage that is affecting a number of health-related services. While the outage is affecting IT systems, including Regional Health Authority (RHA) emails, impacts to services vary by region.

The department appreciates the patience of residents, and apologizes for any inconvenience. The Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information (NLCHI), who is assessing and working to resolve the matter, is working with Bell Aliant, the managed service provider, in collaboration with the RHAs. Further details will be provided as they become available.

Eastern Health

• As a result of the outage, Eastern Health is working to determine service availability and will reschedule any missed appointments.
• ­­At this time, non-emergency procedures scheduled for November1, 2021, will be rescheduled for a later date.
• If you are travelling from outside of the Eastern Health region, we encourage you to call ahead to determine if your appointment is being rescheduled, by calling 1-833-777-1276.
• Paper and manual processing for COVID-19 forms and applications will continue, including:
  • COVID – 19 Travel Form
• • COVID – 19 Assessment/Referral Form
  • COVID – 19 Out-of-Province Proof of Vaccination
  • COVID – 19 Results Portal
• The following services will proceed tomorrow, Monday, November 1, 2021:
  • In-person dialysis at all locations throughout the region
  • Community-based services, including Home Support, Special Assistance Program and Direct Home Services
  • Mental health and addictions community counselling services
  • All influenza and COVID-19 vaccination clinics
  • Maternal-Fetal Assessment Unit appointments
• Patients who attend appointments at private doctor’s clinics are encouraged to check with those clinics directly
• Eastern Health is unable to send or receive emails at this time.

Central Health

• All booked appointments taking place in a Central Health facility will be cancelled for November 1, 2021.
• A patient inquiry line has been set up as patients may not be contacted directly to have their appointments rescheduled, as patient contact information may not be accessible at this time. Patients who have any questions regarding appointments, procedures and surgeries scheduled for Monday, November 1, 2021 may call 1-844-651-6214.
• The following services will proceed tomorrow, Monday, November 1, 2021:
  • In-person dialysis will proceed at James Paton Memorial Regional Health Centre in Gander and Central Newfoundland Regional Health Centre in Grand Falls-Windsor
  • Only emergency community-based services will continue
  • All Influenza and COVID-19 vaccination clinics will proceed as scheduled
• Central Health Authority is unable to send or receive emails at this time.

Western Health and Labrador-Grenfell Health

•  Clinical services and scheduled surgeries will continue as planned.
• All Western Health’s appointments will proceed on Monday except some virtual appointments:
  • Telehealth and virtual appointment scheduled with Eastern Health and Central Health providers or services (i.e. cancer care) will not proceed on Monday.
  • If your virtual appointment is with a Western Health program, service, or provider, it will proceed as scheduled, unless you are contacted.
• Western Health appointments for blood collection will proceed as scheduled.
• Routine laboratory and diagnostic imaging appointments for November 1, 2021 with the Labrador-Grenfell Health Authority will be cancelled and rescheduled at a later date.
• Chemotherapy appointments at Western Memorial Regional Hospital, Sir Thomas Roddick Hospital, and Dr. LeGrow Health Centre will not proceed on November 1, 2021.
• Western Health and Labrador-Grenfell Health Authority are unable to send or receive emails at this time.

-30-

Media contact
Melony O’Neill
Health and Community Services
709-729-1377, 689-0928
melonyoneill@gov.nl.ca

2021 10 31 6:19 pm

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Public Advisory: Update on IT Outage Regarding Health-Related Services - News Releases - Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
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Metrolinx to cancel some GO bus trips as unvaccinated staff to be placed on leave - CP24 Toronto's Breaking News

Metrolinx says a limited number of GO bus trips are expected to be cancelled Monday as a number of employees who have not complied with its vaccination policy will be out of work.

Metrolinx employees are required to be fully vaccinated or provide proof of a medical exemption by Nov. 1. Those who do not comply with the policy will be placed on unpaid leave.

The transit agency says most of its employees are fully vaccinated, but the number of employees who remain unvaccinated or have not disclosed their status is enough to cause disruptions, particularly on its bus network.

According to Metrolinx, 97.1 per cent of its 4,600 employees have submitted their vaccination attestation as of Oct. 29, and of those, 95. 4 per cent are fully vaccinated.

With the vaccination numbers it has, the agency says it will be necessary to cancel about six per cent of its 1,417 daily bus trips. The agency added that there may also be intermittent train trips cancelled.

"We expect the impact to be minimal as we are working hard to strategically choose a variety of trips across the region that have low ridership and have other bus and rail options available for customers," Metrolinx said in a statement.

"Our priority continues to be to ensure our service can get people to where they need to go safely and to minimize any impact to their schedules."

Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins said the agency does not know which trips will be affected as it does not have the final number of employees who will be placed on unpaid leave.

However, Aikins noted that cancellations will be spread out across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area," so no particular customers will feel all the impact of it."

"Customers are encouraged to plan ahead, check the website for service updates before leaving home and sign up for On The GO alerts," the Crown agency said.

"We will communicate any impacts to services regularly with customers."

We're preparing for operational impacts tomorrow to our #GOBus service that will result in the cancellation of some trips. We're doing our best to minimize the impacts to service. We'LL send updated messages to any routes with cancellations. Follow us @GOtransitBus for updates.

— GO Transit (@GOtransit) November 1, 2021

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Real life Succession battle plagues Canada's largest telecoms firm - BBC News

Getty Images/BBC

The family at the helm of Canada's largest telecommunications firm, Rogers Communications, has descended into civil war. The bitter power struggle is now headed to court.

It was just after 3am on a Sunday, and Martha Rogers couldn't sleep.

She took to Twitter to agonise about the fate of her father's eponymous telecoms firm, Rogers, a giant in Canada's corporate landscape and the centrepiece of their family's multi-billion dollar dynasty.

"With 24,000 employees and mortgages on the line, it's not easy," Ms Rogers wrote.

The company, a C$30bn ($24bn; £17bn) behemoth, is the mobile carrier of nearly 11 million Canadians, with a stake in everything from hockey to cable television. The family name is a staple of the Toronto skyline and is emblazoned across one of Canada's largest stadiums.

But it has struggled since the death of its founder in 2008, and now, its future has been thrown into question by an epic family feud.

Ms Rogers, her sister and mother have split from her older brother Edward after he attempted to oust the company's chief executive and other members of its independent board in September, launching an unusually public row in Canada's business world.

Two separate groups of directors are now claiming to represent Rogers - exposing old family rivalries and unwanted turbulence ahead of a pending $26bn takeover of a rival telecoms firm. Already, shares of Rogers have slumped as the family drama plays out. The fallout could affect everything from professional sports to local politics.

"It's moving from 'Succession' to 'Game of Thrones'," said Richard Powers, professor at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. "These are very important times for the company, and the last thing they need is this distraction."

Getty Images/BBC

Family Drama

The plot at the moment is straight out of HBO. The drama launched earlier this month when Edward, 52, sought to replace Rogers chief executive Joe Natale, blaming him for the firm's underperformance.

But Matriarch Loretta Rogers, 82, and her daughters closed rank, backing Mr Natale, and later voted to remove Edward as chairman of the Rogers board.

In turn, Mr Rogers filed suit in British Columbia, seeking legal approval to reconstitute the company's board and restore his position of chair - without consulting shareholders.

The court has scheduled a hearing for Monday.

"Ed's perpetual tantrums when he doesn't get his way," his sister Martha tweeted. It was "turning into Toronto's own real life soap opera," she added.

Through a representative Mr Rogers declined an interview request, but said in a statement that "decisive action was needed to return the company to stability" and close a pending merger with competitor Shaw Communications.

In court documents, Mr Rogers said he had grown "increasingly concerned" with Mr Natale's performance. Rogers has been beset by sluggish growth in wireless revenue, stagnant share prices and, most recently, a loss of roaming revenue due to Covid-19 travel curbs.

Mr Natale, 57, did not respond to a request for comment.

"I have the greatest respect for Joe Natale," said Rotman's Prof Powers. "He has excellent experience, by all reports doing an excellent job. Not good enough, apparently, according to Edward."

Getty Images/BBC

Mr Rogers had aimed to replace him with Tony Staffieri, who had been the Rogers Chief Financial Officer.

But in a bizarre twist, the covert plan was exposed when Mr Staffieri accidentally pocket-dialled Mr Natale while discussing it with someone else, an incident first reported by the Globe and Mail newspaper.

After learning of the scheme, Mr Natale informed an independent director, prompting an emergency board meeting, where the majority of the group - including Mrs Rogers and her daughters - backed him.

Mr Staffieri left the company days later.

Mr Rogers alleged in court documents that the Rogers board had initially agreed to replace Mr Natale, and that the CEO had begun preparing for retirement. Two days later, they reversed course.

But his family has presented a very different version of events, saying he had misled them about Mr Natale's performance.

The board stripped Mr Rogers of his chairman title. His mother and two sisters all cast votes against him.

Mr Rogers then called his own meeting of what he deemed a newly-constituted board of Rogers to reinstall him. Mrs Rogers called the actions "invalid", saying in a statement that her son was proceeding down a "misguided and miscalculated path".

"He should stop immediately, as his behaviour simply serves to underscore his seemingly wanton disregard for good governance," she said.

His sister, Martha, wrote on Twitter that his appointment "should be taken as seriously as if he appointed himself the King of England."

Getty Images/BBC

Rogers Communications was founded by patriarch Ted Rogers in 1960, when he bought Canada's first FM radio station in Toronto.

The elder Rogers ran the company until his death in 2008, having overseen its expansion from a small cable TV firm into one of the country's most powerful corporations.

Beyond the core telecoms firm, Rogers today owns a variety of businesses. The company owns the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team, and holds a stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which owns both the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team and the Toronto Raptors basketball team.

But the firm has sometimes stumbled since its founder's death.

"Rogers has been underperforming," said Richard Leblanc, a professor of law, governance and ethics at York University in Toronto. "And that's because of interpersonal dynamics."

Mr Rogers' death left a vacuum, he said, and it has been filled, in part, by "intense" sibling rivalry with Edward, Ted Rogers' only son, often at the centre.

Heir apparent

When his father died, Edward became chair of the Rogers Control Trust - a family-run entity which controls the majority of Rogers Communications shares. In this seat, Mr Rogers has broad authority to vote the family's shares in the public company: 97.5% of all voting shares at Rogers Communications.

His father once compared the position's power to that of the president of the United States - and, according to Prof Leblanc, it is a highly unusual arrangement.

"I've never seen that, in 25 years of corporate governance, so much power concentrated in one individual," he said.

In January 2018, the Rogers board voted to appoint Mr Rogers as chair, further consolidating his authority.

He has frequently come up against the company's CEOs, who have seen abrupt ends to their tenure after falling out of favour. Mr Natale is the third CEO in the past 10 years.

"It seems like Edward likes them until he doesn't," said the University of Toronto's Prof Powers.

Getty Images/BBC

Mr Rogers has further courted controversy in conducting his public life.

His family drew the ire of some earlier this year after his wife, Suzanne, posted a photo of herself, her husband and their two sons with former US President Donald Trump at his Florida resort Mar-a-Lago. Their apparent affection for Mr Trump angered many Canadians upset by the former president's response to Covid-19, his role in the 6 January Capitol riots, and his energetic dispute of the 2020 election results.

But for some, Mr Rogers committed his cardinal sin outside the family feud.

According to the Toronto Star newspaper, he had sought to end the tenure of the president of the Toronto Raptors basketball team, Masai Ujiri. (The team is part owned by Rogers.)

Mr Ujiri, who led the Raptors to their first-ever NBA championship win, is adored by Canadians. Mr Rogers apparently felt differently, arguing Mr Ujiri was not worth the amount offered.

For Torontonians in particular, alleged disloyalty to Mr Ujiri crossed a line.

Until this month, the Rogers family had publicly stood behind him. But his attempt to remove CEO Mr Natale "was a bridge too far", said Prof Leblanc.

"We'll spend every penny defending the company, employees & Ted [Rogers]'s wishes, nothing you can do will deter us," Martha wrote in a tweet, seemingly directed at her brother. "Bring. It. On."

Getty Images/BBC

The issue now before a British Columbia (BC) court is whether Mr Rogers can push through changes to the Rogers' board without calling a shareholder meeting.

In his suit, Mr Rogers has argued that in BC, where Rogers is incorporated, such a change may be made through a written resolution.

And experts say Mr Rogers may have the legal upper hand thanks to his control of the family trust, which gives him authority over so much of the company's voting shares.

A pyrrhic victory?

Amid the turmoil, Toronto's mayor John Tory has reportedly been dragged into the role of mediator by the Rogers family. He has long been a board member and a confidante to the family. He has been forced to field questions over how his work with Rogers fits with his mayoral duties after it was reported that he received payment from the trust.

"John Tory gets paid to be Rogers family therapist, but it's the city that could do with a session," read one newspaper headline.

Getty Images/BBC

Even if a BC judge rules in Mr Rogers' favour on Monday, it may be a pyrrhic victory.

The company's stock has fallen more than 8% on the Toronto Stock Exchange since 21 October, when Mr Rogers was removed as chairman.

And if he is reinstated, he will preside over a badly fractured board as it navigates a complicated takeover, which still needs regulatory approval.

Most observers think the deal will be completed, but with some modifications.

The Ontario Securities Commission has made inquiries this past week in the wake of the family row, Prof Leblanc said, adding he "would not rule out" that the merger may ultimately fall through.

"You have, essentially, a dysfunctional board and dysfunctional family," said Prof Leblanc. "And the market does not like uncertainty."

Graphics by Angélica Casas

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International flights resume at Ottawa International Airport for the first time since spring 2020 | CTV News - CTV News Ottawa

OTTAWA -- International flights resumed at the Ottawa International Airport on Sunday for the first time since the spring of 2020.

"We were pretty pumped to welcome our first cross-border flight in 19 months today," said the Ottawa Airport in a message on Twitter.

Flair Airlines flight 8334 departed Ottawa for Fort Lauderdale, Fla. at 7 a.m., the first international flight out of the Ottawa International Airport since the COVID-19 pandemic brought travel to a halt at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Flair Airlines flight from Fort Lauderdale landed at the Ottawa Airport at 2:30 p.m.  

The Ottawa Airport said there were "many happy reunions" on Flair Airlines first flight from Fort Lauderdale to Ottawa.

"Including these grandparents who were greeted by their daughter and grandson," said YOW on Twitter.

Meantime, a United Airlines flight is scheduled to land in Ottawa from Washington Dulles just before 7 p.m. Sunday.

Sunday's flights are the first in a series of international flights set to resume at the Ottawa Airport this week.

On Monday, Flair Airlines will operate a flight to Orlando, while United Airlines will resume flights departing Ottawa for Washington Dulles.

WestJet will resume service to Cancun on Nov. 13, while Sunwing will add non-stop flights out of Ottawa to warm destinations by mid-November.

The resumption of international flights comes after the federal government quietly lifted its advisory against all non-essential travel abroad last Thursday.

Flair Airlines announced this summer it would operate flights out of Ottawa to Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Las Vegas between Oct. 31 and March 26.

Air Canada and Air Transat will be adding flights out of Ottawa to the U.S. and Caribbean in late November and December.

AIR CANADA TO TORONTO ISLAND AIRPORT

Air Canada launched daily service between the Ottawa International Airport and Toronto Island on Sunday.

The airline will operate four return trips daily between Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport and Ottawa.

Flights will depart Ottawa daily at 7 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 4:25 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Flights from Toronto to Ottawa will depart at 7 a.m., 8:35 a.m., 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.

VACCINATION REQUIREMENTS

Travallers must now prove they have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to board all flights at airports in Ottawa and across Canada.

As of 3 a.m. Oct. 30, anyone 12 years of age and older will need to show proof of vaccination to fly.

The federal government is providing a "short transition period" with unvaccinated travellers able to travel if they show a valid COVID-19 molecular test within 72 hours of travel. The government says rapid tests – known as antigen tests – will not be accepted by airlines and VIA Rail.

As of Nov. 30, only fully vaccinated travellers will be allowed on planes, trains and boats in Canada.

With files from CTV News Ottawa's Michael Woods

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International flights resume at Ottawa International Airport for the first time since spring 2020 | CTV News - CTV Edmonton

OTTAWA -- International flights resumed at the Ottawa International Airport on Sunday for the first time since the spring of 2020.

"We were pretty pumped to welcome our first cross-border flight in 19 months today," said the Ottawa Airport in a message on Twitter.

Flair Airlines flight 8334 departed Ottawa for Fort Lauderdale, Fla. at 7 a.m., the first international flight out of the Ottawa International Airport since the COVID-19 pandemic brought travel to a halt at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Flair Airlines flight from Fort Lauderdale landed at the Ottawa Airport at 2:30 p.m.  

The Ottawa Airport said there were "many happy reunions" on Flair Airlines first flight from Fort Lauderdale to Ottawa.

"Including these grandparents who were greeted by their daughter and grandson," said YOW on Twitter.

Meantime, a United Airlines flight is scheduled to land in Ottawa from Washington Dulles just before 7 p.m. Sunday.

Sunday's flights are the first in a series of international flights set to resume at the Ottawa Airport this week.

On Monday, Flair Airlines will operate a flight to Orlando, while United Airlines will resume flights departing Ottawa for Washington Dulles.

WestJet will resume service to Cancun on Nov. 13, while Sunwing will add non-stop flights out of Ottawa to warm destinations by mid-November.

The resumption of international flights comes after the federal government quietly lifted its advisory against all non-essential travel abroad last Thursday.

Flair Airlines announced this summer it would operate flights out of Ottawa to Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Las Vegas between Oct. 31 and March 26.

Air Canada and Air Transat will be adding flights out of Ottawa to the U.S. and Caribbean in late November and December.

AIR CANADA TO TORONTO ISLAND AIRPORT

Air Canada launched daily service between the Ottawa International Airport and Toronto Island on Sunday.

The airline will operate four return trips daily between Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport and Ottawa.

Flights will depart Ottawa daily at 7 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 4:25 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Flights from Toronto to Ottawa will depart at 7 a.m., 8:35 a.m., 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.

VACCINATION REQUIREMENTS

Travallers must now prove they have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to board all flights at airports in Ottawa and across Canada.

As of 3 a.m. Oct. 30, anyone 12 years of age and older will need to show proof of vaccination to fly.

The federal government is providing a "short transition period" with unvaccinated travellers able to travel if they show a valid COVID-19 molecular test within 72 hours of travel. The government says rapid tests – known as antigen tests – will not be accepted by airlines and VIA Rail.

As of Nov. 30, only fully vaccinated travellers will be allowed on planes, trains and boats in Canada.

With files from CTV News Ottawa's Michael Woods

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Pfizer COVID-19 booster shot lowers disease severity: study - CTV News

TORONTO -- New research into the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 booster shot suggests getting a third dose significantly reduces the risk of disease-related hospitalization and death.

Conducted by Israel’s Clalit Research Institute in collaboration with researchers at Harvard University, the study compared data from 728,321 individuals age 12 and older who received a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine with the same number of people who received only two doses at least five months prior.

According to the study, receiving the Pfizer booster shot reduced COVID-related hospitalization by 93 per cent, COVID-related death by 81 per cent, and severe COVID-19 illness by 92 per cent, compared with receiving just two doses.

“These results show convincingly that the third dose of the vaccine is highly effective against severe COVID-19-related outcomes in different age groups and population subgroups, one week after the third dose,” said Ran Balicer, senior author of the study and director of the Clalit Research Institute, in a press release.

The study took place in Israel from July 30 through Sept. 23. Researchers looked at the number of COVID-19-related hospital admissions, deaths and severity of disease based on criteria from the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The study also found that a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine reduced the risk of COVID-19 infection by 88 per cent.

“To date, one of the main drivers of vaccine hesitancy has been a lack of information regarding the effectiveness of the vaccine,” said Ben Reis, director of the Predictive Medicine Group at Harvard Medical School and the Boston Children's Hospital Computational Health Informatics Program, in the press release. “This careful epidemiological study provides reliable information on third-dose vaccine effectiveness, which we hope will be helpful to those who have not yet decided about vaccination with a third dose.”

Researchers, however, do note that the rate of COVID-19 hospitalization and severe disease among those age 16 to 39 was too small to determine the booster’s effectiveness. The study also did not include health-care workers, those living in long-term care facilities or people medically confined to their homes. These groups are often more vulnerable to contracting the disease, and likely to be targeted early to receive a booster shot.

At the time of the study, Israel was undergoing its fourth wave largely driven by the Delta variant, which continues to be a concern in Canada today.

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization suggested on Oct. 29 that provinces offer mRNA vaccine booster shots to Canadians who are aged 70 and up, along with people who received two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine or one dose of the Janssen vaccine and adults in First Nations, Inuit and Metis communities, at least six months after their primary vaccine course. Provinces across Canada have already begun outlining their third-dose policy for immunocompromised people.

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Health Department IT outage affecting COVID-19 testing, patient files across N.L. - CBC.ca

A province-wide IT systems outage is causing problems with some of the Department of Health's services related to COVID-19, as well as clinical and administrative systems used in the treatment of patients.

According to a news release from the department Saturday night, several parts of the province's online COVID-19 hub are affected, including the online travel form required for visitors, the form for COVID-19 testing and the portals used to submit out of province vaccination documents and view COVID-19 test results.

In a emailed statement to CBC News on Saturday, the department said travellers arriving in the province with completed travel forms can provide the reference number from their documents, along with identification, when they arrive. If a form is not already completed when they arrive, travellers can use a paper copy.

Those who require COVID-19 testing should call 811, the department said.

The outage is also affecting operational, clinical and administrative systems used by the province's health authorities. 

In a statement, Eastern Health said Meditech, the main information system used to manage patient care and finance information, is affected, as well as PACS, the system that provides access to medical images like X-rays.

Central Health said there could be delays in emergency services related to the outage, while Western Health said patient Wi-Fi is also affected.

Both the Health Department and the health authorities are working with the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information to try and resolve the issue, and have also shifted to paper where possible.

The Department of Health did not respond to requests for interviews from CBC News on Sunday.

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador 

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Mark Zuckerberg is Facebook's biggest problem with its brand - Business Insider

Push to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations in schools grows with approval for 5-11 year old kids expected by the end of the year - CTV Edmonton

OTTAWA -- While Canada is likely still several weeks away from rolling out a COVID-19 vaccine for kids between 5 and 11, there are growing calls already to add the COVID-19 shot to the list of mandatory immunizations in schools.

There is no firm date yet, but with a Health Canada review underway for a vaccine safe for children, it's expected they'll be rolling up their sleeves before the end of the year.

"We're at the state where most public health units are already well into planning for administering these vaccines," said Dr. Isaac Bogoch, infectious diseases physician.

"This vaccine will help reduce transmission and viral loads in kids, big improvement and big step forward," added Dr. Ronald St.  John, former federal manager to the SARS response in Canada.

The Pfizer formula could get the green light as early as mid-November but experts say the uptake will be critical to a successful inoculation campaign of younger Canadians.

"There's probably about 25 per cent of people who will likely get vaccinated but still have questions or wanna see more time before they get vaccinated and then, of course, there's going to be people who choose to not get their kids vaccinated," said Dr. Bogoch.

With projections of a November authorization, there are calls already to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of mandatory immunizations in Ontario's schools.

In a letter to the province, the Ontario Public School Board's Association said, "We encourage the government to move forward on making this important change as soon as possible."

Locally, the Ottawa Carleton District School Board sent its own letter, making the same request. 

"For the past 18 months, the impact of COVID-19 has affected the safety and wellbeing of Ontario students and their families as well as their access to education, to devastating effect," said the letter from the OCDSB.

"I would suggest that we encourage people as much as possible to have their children vaccinated," said Dr. St. John.

"When we talk about mandates it's always a bit of a sticky issue, especially with paediatric vaccines. This will likely be on the list of mandated vaccines sometime in the future, it isn't this year," added Dr. Bogoch.

The province has said it won't make the vaccine mandatory yet, instead it will put the emphasis on education and accessibility.

In the capital, Ottawa Public Health continues to push for parents to get their kids immunized as soon as they're eligible.

In a statement to CTV News OPH said, "When we talk about mandates it's always a bit of a sticky issue especially with paediatric vaccines. This will likely be on the list of mandated vaccines sometime in the future, it isn't this year."

"With the FDA's acknowledgment that it's safe to use, I think we have to explain to people why that is. The safety profile of this reduced dose by Pfizer is very good," said Dr. St. John.

In the U.S., the Pfizer vaccine for kids has FDA authorization and is now waiting for the CDC to sign off. Its expected shots could be going into children's arms there as early as mid-next week.

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B.C. parents urged to register kids for COVID-19 vaccine as U.S. green lights Pfizer - Global News

Provincial health officials are encouraging parents to get their children registered for a COVID-19 immunization, as one of the three major vaccines inches towards approval in Canada.

On Friday, the U.S. FDA granted emergency authorization for Pfizer’s vaccine to be used for children aged five to 11.

In Canada, the Pfizer vaccine has so far only earned approval for children ages 12 and up.

Read more: Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine authorized for children 5-11, U.S. FDA says

Health Canada is reviewing the company’s application for its pediatric vaccine, but an approval isn’t expected until at least mid-to-late November.

“It’s critically important that they go methodically through their process, but we’re getting ready to go,” B.C. health Minister Adrian Dix said.

“I encourage parents to get their children registered so they’ll be on the system and ready to go when the vaccine becomes available.”

Dr. Birinder Narang, a Metro Vancouver family physician and clinical assistant professor at UBC, said the FDA’s approval was a “great indicator” the shot was safe for children, pointing to the U.S. agency’s strong track record on vaccine safety.

“What I tell parents is I have no reason, based on my training, to think that a vaccine would be more unsafe in the five to 11 population than in the 12 to 17 population — we know that vaccines have been very safe for children,” he told Global’s Focus BC.

“What this whole process is about safety, tolerability, making sure it’s the right dose and effective. Those are the questions that once we (in Canada) have that data and that recommendation we can say that more confidently.”

1:15 COVID-19 vaccine for kids aged 5-11 still ‘weeks away’: Sharma

COVID-19 vaccine for kids aged 5-11 still ‘weeks away’: Sharma

Parents are still not able to actually book a vaccine appointment for children younger than 12, but can register them for when bookings open at the province’s Get Vaccinated website.

Read more: COVID-19: Vaccine registration open for B.C. kids 5+ but no timeline on approval

Children under the age of 12 represent about half of the remaining pool of unvaccinated people in B.C.

Pfizer’s pediatric vaccine is one-third of the strength of the dosage given to adults and teens, and in the U.S. will be given as a two-dose series, with the doses administerd three weeks apart.

–With files from Leslie Young and David Lao

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© 2021 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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How an accidental phone answer exposed Rogers Communications 'coup plan' - Reuters

General view of the Rogers Building, quarters of Rogers Communications in Toronto, Ontario, Canada October 22, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio/File Photo

Oct 30 (Reuters) - In mid September, Rogers Communications Inc CEO Joe Natale called his then finance chief Tony Staffieri, who was discussing a secret plan to shake up Canada's biggest telecom company's board and senior management, including Natale.

Staffieri accidentally answered Natale's call.

That left the line open for 21 minutes as Natale listened to Staffieri detail the big upcoming management reshuffle which ex-chairman Edward Rogers had plotted, according to an affidavit filed by Rogers Chairman John MacDonald.

MacDonald's affidavit follows an Oct. 26 submission by Edward Rogers to the Supreme Court of British Columbia as the two factions fight for control of Rogers Communications' board. A hearing is due on Monday.

Soon after the call Natale convened a meeting with independent directors to discuss what he had overheard. He told them he had lost confidence in Staffieri and sought his termination.

Less than two weeks later, Staffieri left the company, even as Rogers was navigating its biggest ever M&A, the C$20 billion ($16.1 billion) bid for smaller rival Shaw Communications (SJRb.TO).

Staffieri's departure did not stop Edward, the only son of the company's late founder Ted Rogers, from pursuing his plans. In the ensuing battle, the board of directors, including his mother and two sisters, voted to remove Edward as chairman and replace him with lead independent director MacDonald, who backed Natale as CEO. read more

The details and the timeline revealed in MacDonald and Edward's affidavit capture the turmoil gripping Rogers Communications, and the wide rift and lack of trust within the family.

Differences within company boards and wealthy families are not unusual, but such a spat playing out in the open is rare in Canada and has caught investors and analysts by surprise and attracted the attention of regulators.

It has also weighed on Rogers shares, which are down 2.9% this year, compared with 17% gains for BCE Inc (BCE.TO) and a 12.6% rise for Telus Corp (T.TO) in the same period.

S&P Global Ratings said the distractions could hinder Rogers' ability to raise capital while also navigating regulatory hurdles before it can complete the Shaw deal.

Responding to his removal as chairman, Edward used his position as chair of the family-owned Rogers Control Trust, which owns the majority of voting shares in the company, to constitute a new board, which recognized him as chairman. He then petitioned the Supreme Court of British Columbia, where the company is incorporated, to legitimize the new board.

The sequence of events outlined in court filings differ, but the common thread is Edward apparently falling out with the family's matriarch, Loretta Rogers, as well as with his sisters Melinda Rogers-Hixon and Martha Rogers.

Spokesmen for Edward Rogers and other family members declined to comment, while Rogers Communications was not available for immediate comment.

In his affidavit, Edward said Natale had failed to turnaround the business and that the board agreed to replace Natale as CEO. Loretta Rogers said her decision initially to support Edward was based on wrong and incomplete information provided by Edward, and that she changed her view on learning additional facts and continues to back Natale.

In MacDonald's affidavit he said the board and family members had not voted to terminate Natale, and that instead they believed he had "exceeded his goals" as CEO.

(This story has been refiled to add editing credit)

($1 = 1.2392 Canadian dollars)

Writing by Denny Thomas; Editing by Daniel Wallis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Hebrew speakers mock Facebook's Meta rebrand - CTV News

Social media users in Israel are mocking Facebook's company name change to Meta, as it sounds similar to the Hebrew word for "dead."

Many Twitter users scoffed at the social media company's rebrand -- revealed by founder Mark Zuckerberg earlier this week -- using the hashtag #FacebookDead. "Somebody did not do their #branding research," one post read.

Dr Nirit Weiss-Blatt, author of The Techlash and Tech Crisis Communication, tweeted: "In Hebrew, *Meta* means *Dead* The Jewish community will ridicule this name for years to come."

"Grave error?? Facebook's new name Meta means dead in Hebrew. Hilarious. #FacebookDead" another user tweeted.

Zuckerberg's efforts to revamp Facebook come as the company faces what could be its most potent scandal since it launched in 2004.

The social media giant is under the spotlight following the publication this week of "The Facebook Papers," a series of internal documents obtained by 17 news organizations, including CNN, that underpin whistleblower Frances Haugen's claims the company is riddled with institutional shortcomings.

The documents reveal how Facebook has propelled misinformation, struggled to eliminate human trafficking-related content on the site, and tried to increase its teenage audience, despite internal research suggesting that its platforms, especially Instagram, can have an adverse effect on their mental health.

Facebook isn't the first company to be ridiculed after its branding didn't translate abroad.

In 2019, Kim Kardashian West was accused of cultural appropriation after debuting her shapewear brand, which she initially named Kimono. Kardashian even appeared to have trademarked the word "kimono," a decision that the mayor of Kyoto, Daisaku Kadokawa, criticized in an open letter on Facebook.

"We think that the names for 'Kimono' are the asset shared with all humanity who love Kimono and its culture therefore they should not be monopolized," Kadokawa wrote.

Kardashian changed the name of her brand to Skims later that year.

In 2017, McDonald's name change in China raised eyebrows. Customers were left confused when the company swapped Maidanglao, a Chinese iteration of the English name, to Jingongmen, which loosely translates to "Golden Arches." One customer said it "sounds like a furniture store."

And when the Nissan Moco was launched in the early 2000s, Spanish-speaking customers may have looked twice, as the word "moco" translates to "bogey." Needless to say, the name was only used in Japan.

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COVID vaccines protect better than 'natural' immunity from previous infection: CDC - National Post

Hospitalized patients who weren't vaccinated but previously had COVID were about five times more likely to test positive than people who had been vaccinated, the study found

Author of the article:

Bloomberg News

John Tozzi

Publishing date:

Oct 29, 2021  •  14 hours ago  •  1 minute read  •  211 Comments

The study of 7,000 adults hospitalized with COVID-like symptoms compared how many tested positive for the virus with rates of vaccination and prior infection. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images/File

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A new study offers more evidence that COVID-19 vaccines provide stronger protection against hospitalization than immunity from an earlier infection, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.

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Hospitalized patients who weren’t vaccinated but had been previously infected with COVID were about five times more likely to test positive for the infection than people who had been vaccinated, according to the CDC study.

The CDC has long recommended that people get vaccinated even if they have already had COVID-19.

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“We now have additional evidence that reaffirms the importance of COVID-19 vaccines, even if you have had prior infection,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in a statement. “This study adds more to the body of knowledge demonstrating the protection of vaccines against severe disease from COVID-19.”

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COVID vaccines protect better than 'natural' immunity from previous infection: CDC - National Post
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