Coronavirus (COVID-19) National News

"Vaccination access should be based on one thing: vulnerability," NDP health critic Don Davies said. "When we see Indigenous communities who are vulnerable all across this country and experiencing outbreaks at the highest levels in this country, then we must respond."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency authorization for the Moderna vaccine late last week, becoming the first country to approve it.

Nearly one in four respondents was close to someone who had died of COVID-19.

The first vaccinations in Calgary and Edmonton were given Dec. 15 to health-care workers. 

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau huddled with members of his cabinet on Sunday as federal opposition leaders called for a travel ban on the United Kingdom to prevent the spread of a new, more contagious strain of COVID-19.

Reports from Britain and South Africa of new coronavirus strains that seem to spread more easily are causing alarm, but virus experts say it’s unclear if that’s the case or whether they pose any concern for vaccines or cause more severe disease.

OTTAWA — Canada's top public health officer has been a model of stoicism through the first year of COVID-19, but Dr. Theresa Tam still got a little choked up last week when the first Canadians were inoculated with a COVID-19 vaccine.

Canada surpassed 500,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Saturday as infections continued to surge while the vaccine rollout reached its final province.

TORONTO — Fear of contracting COVID-19 in hospitals or doctors' offices has prompted some moms-to-be to choose to take on midwives and have their babies at home, midwifery groups say.

OTTAWA — The federal government will distribute $30 million to Indigenous communities and about $65 million to local organizations across Canada to support food security during the COVID-19 pandemic, Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said.