Coronavirus (COVID-19) National News

OTTAWA — Jo-Anne Miner, a personal support worker at an Ottawa long-term care home, was the first in the city to receive the COVID-19 vaccine as the national capital rolls out its inoculation program.

Health Canada says the side effects from Pfizer's clinical trials were found to be "mild or moderate'" and included things like pain at the site of injection, body chills and feeling tired and feverish.

Innisfailian ensuring struggling families get Christmas dinner

The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 4:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, Dec. 13, 2020. There are 454,852 confirmed cases in Canada. _ Canada: 454,852 confirmed cases (73,028 active, 368,474 resolved, 13,350 deaths).

Authorities are cautioning Canadians against getting swept up in the excitement of the approaching COVID-19 vaccine rollout, insisting that dropping our guards could have deadly consequences as federal forecasts predict the outbreak's death toll coul

Health Canada approved the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer on Wednesday. Federal officials have not given a timeline for the possible approval or distribution of the Moderna shot.

The Pfizer vaccine has very strict requirements, including that it be kept at temperatures below -70 C, which has made shipping it more difficult logistically.

There are two delivery sites in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta, and one in each of the other six provinces. None of the early shipments are headed for the territories.

Health Canada is in the final stages of reviewing vaccine candidates from pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna, with a decision expected by the end of the month.

The move aims to bolster an industry made up largely of small and medium-sized businesses and that accounts for roughly 750,000 jobs and two per cent of GDP, according to the government.