The Canadian government is pushing a pro-COVID-19 vaccine message targeted at children through a Christmas feature with Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam holding a talk with “Mrs. Clause,” promoting vaccines and boosters even as their effectiveness remains dubious. In a 2-minute interview, Tam makes her “yearly call” to the North Pole for “Santa’s holiday…

For more than a year, viral immunologist Byram Bridle has faced backlash—as well as support—from the scientific community at large and from his colleagues at the University of Guelph for expressing his concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine. Bridle alleged in a lawsuit announced Dec. 22 that some of his colleagues took their disapproval to the…

The Canadian Armed Forces is facing calls to return Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin to duty after the senior officer, who previously oversaw the Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout, was acquitted of sexual assault. The military says it is considering the implications of the ruling, which was handed down by a Quebec civilian judge on Monday following a…

Alberta’s Court of Appeal has upheld the requirement that eligible transplant recipients be vaccinated against COVID-19, saying the stipulation did not violate the charter rights of a woman who refused to get a dose. Annette Lewis filed a legal challenge against Alberta Health Services, doctors and a hospital earlier this year after she was unable…

Almost 20,000 people have signed an online petition calling for the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to work with the country’s government to allow Novak Djokovic to compete in the U.S. Open despite him being not vaccinated against COVID-19. Djokovic will not be able to participate in the year’s final Grand Slam due to current…

Ross Wightman, who was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome shortly after receiving a dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, has become one of the first recipients of funds under Canada’s Vaccine Injury Support Program. But the plight of others who have suffered vaccine injuries weighs heavily on the realtor and former pilot from B.C.’s Okanagan Valley….

MONTREAL—The Quebec government has announced that a woman in her 50s has died of a blood clot that occurred after receiving the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Public health director Dr. Horacio Arruda told a news conference Tuesday that the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the risks, and the province always knew that rare complications were possible….

The first made-in-Canada COVID-19 vaccine will begin human clinical trials on Tuesday, according to a Toronto-based biotechnology company. Providence Therapeutics said 60 volunteers between the ages of 18 to 65 will be divided into three groups, and three different dose levels of the vaccine and a placebo will be administered to each group. These volunteers will…

TORONTO—Officials with the Yukon government have confirmed the identities of a couple from Vancouver who allegedly travelled to a remote community last week to receive doses of COVID-19 vaccine amid media reports that the former president of the Great Canadian Gaming Corp. was one of those charged with breaching the territory’s Civil Emergency Measures Act….