Health Canada approves new COVID treatment

Politics Insider for Jan 18: China baseless claims COVID originated in Canada; Ottawa says airport COVID testing remains in place; Calls for Alberta Justice Secretary to resign

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Limited offer: Health Canada approved antiviral treatment from Pfizer for COVID-19 on Monday, but supplies of Paxlovid are limited, so the Public Health Agency of Canada is asking provinces to prioritize those most at risk of serious illness, CP reports.

Clinical trials showed that the treatment, which helps prevent the SARS-CoV-2 virus from reproducing in an infected patient, was nearly 90 percent effective in reducing hospitalization and death in high-risk patients when given within three days of infection. , and 85 per cent if given within five days. The drug requires three pills at a time, twice a day, for five days. It’s the first oral COVID-19 treatment to be taken at home to be approved in Canada, but Tam admitted there may be some logistical challenges getting the drug to the right people fast enough.

not serious: Chinese health authorities have alleged that Omicron was introduced to a Beijing resident via a post from Canada, which experts say is ridiculous, CP reports. A Chinese news outlet first reported that the January 7 infection of a Beijing resident was the result of mail from Canada. Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a China expert at the University of Ottawa, said that’s an absurd suggestion: “Unlike the early days, scientists have clarified that it does not stay on surfaces. To suggest it would be on mail coming from Canada for days is ludicrous.”

Testing continues: The global Omicron wave is too severe to drop mandatory COVID-19 testing for air travelers arriving in Canada, Jean-Yves Duclos said Monday, the Star reports. Earlier Monday, the Pearson airport, Air Canada and WestJet issued an open letter to Duclos, asking him to drop the testing requirement and move testing resources to other institutions, such as schools. Duclos said no: “Right now it’s not going to happen. We are probably not even at the peak of infections in Canada yet.” Some experts argue the test requirement makes less sense now that Omicron is so widespread that provincial testing regimes can’t keep up with the infections.

Bad Call: Alberta’s NDP Calls for Justice Minister Kaycee Madu resign after he learns called the Edmonton police chief after receiving a ticket for distracted driving, Calgary Herald reports. CBC News reported Monday that Madu was arrested on March 10, 2021 and fined $300 for using his cellphone in a school zone. He later called the Edmonton police chief Dale McFee to discuss the ticket.

Bad Poll: Speaking of political headaches for Jason Kenney, a new poll by Angus Reid says just 19 percent of Albertans think they’ve done a good job dealing with COVID and 48 percent think they’ve done “very poorly,” Herald reports.

No mistake: The Federal Ethics Commissioner says: Dominic BartonCanada’s former ambassador to Beijing did not violate ethics rules when he accepted an offer to chair Rio Tinto Globe reports. Two NDP MPs demanded an investigation, suggesting Barton violated the Conflict of Interest Act because he met with Rio Tinto executives shortly before the end of his time as a diplomat. But Mario Dion found there was no violation because Barton “had no direct and significant contacts with Rio Tinto while he was Canada’s ambassador to China,” a spokesman said.

Troops in Ukraine: Canadian special forces have been deployed to Ukraine amid mounting tensions between NATO’s military alliance and Russia, Global News reports. Sources told Global the deployment is part of NATO’s effort to deter Russian aggression in Ukraine.

Distracted driving? Doug Ford used to be mocked and praised for acting as “taxi” and “snowplow” during a massive snowstorm in Toronto on Monday, Yahoo reports. There was so much snow in the city, that the school board canceled school for two days in a row.

Good news: John Horgan has completed cancer treatment, the Vancouver sun. reports. “They had the phasers on stun and my treatment is complete,” Horgan said in a handwritten note he posted on Facebook Monday. In October, Horgan announced that he had discovered a lump in his neck and that doctors recommended a biopsy.

Election Promise: In the heat of the election campaign this fall, the Liberals pledged to “pass legislation to ensure that any company or organization that decides to demand vaccination certificates from employees and customers can do so without fear of legal challenge.” Campbell Clark reminds us in the Globe. Such legislation can be helpful to companies dealing with a series of such lawsuits, except there is no sign of the legislation four months later, and will probably never be.

Galling Machine: Susan Riley, to write in the Hill Times, regrets that Erin O’Toole, “a formerly sympathetic, mean backseat and undersecretary in Harper’s administration – acting like a runaway galler.” He may be bad, she concludes, but the alternatives seem worse.

First second: Alexa McDonough’s The most significant achievement at the national level could have been her 1995 victory as the second woman elected to lead a federal political party, writes Susan Delacourt in the Star. Delacourt points out that the challenge for women is not to get the big jobs, but to keep them there.

— Stephen Maher