HEALTH Canada has approved the first vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) for adults aged 60 and above, ahead of the season for the virus this fall.
On Friday, Health Canada approved Arexvy, the RSV vaccine manufactured by glaxosmithkline (GSK), months after the company submitted an application to the federal health body for review in November last year.
RSV is a common but highly contagious virus that appears like a common cold for most people.
Doctors have been calling for an RSV vaccine for seniors because although the virus is common, older people are much more likely to become severely ill and require hospitalization.
GSK says a randomized clinical trial showed the vaccine was 82 per cent effective at preventing lower respiratory tract disease caused by RSV compared to seniors who got a placebo.
Meanwhile, the company says it was 94 percent effective at preventing the illness in seniors with underlying medical conditions.
Meta begins blocking access to news on Facebook, Instagram in Canada
And in other updates, Meta has begun blocking access to news on Facebook and Instagram for users in Canada.
This is in response to a legislation called the online news act passed by the Trudeau government in June.
Currently, people can still access and share news outside Facebook and Instagram.
However, news could also be wiped out from Google soon because in June, the company said it would remove Canadian news links when the law takes effect rather than pay content fees.
As of now, it remains unclear whether the search engine and other platforms such as Twitter and Bing will follow Meta’s lead.
