The Bill Kelly Show Podcast:

Health Canada says the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is now safe to give to children ages 12 and up.

Health Canada has authorized those 12 years of age and older to be given the same dose regimen as adults. The authorization was based on the results of Pfizer-BioNTech’s Phase 3 clinical trial involving 2,260 adolescents aged 12 to 15.

Conducted in the United States, the trial found the vaccine to be 100 per cent effective in children aged 12 to 15, up from the 95 per cent efficacy shown after the second shot in the trials with older age groups.

GUEST: Dr. Martha Fulford, Pediatric Infectious Disease Specialist at McMaster Children's Hospital and Hamilton Health Sciences

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Canada will have received 6.4 million AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines by the end of June, a government official says.

For the current quarter ending on June 30, the official said Canada can expect to see 1.6 million AstraZeneca doses through the U.N.-backed initiative known as the COVAX facility. Those doses are manufactured in South Korea and “finished” in a European location.

Canada was supposed to receive another 1.5 million AstraZeneca doses made by the Serum Institute in India, but government officials say Canada will not be “pushing” for those Serum Institute exports as India’s COVID-19 crisis deepens.

Strain is mounting on the Serum Institute, which in addition to being India’s main supplier is also a critical COVAX supplier, which more than 90 countries are depending on, and supplies Canada with its CoviShield vaccines. 

Why is Canada still using COVAX?

ALSO: The U.S. approves waiving intellectual property rules on COVID-19 vaccines

GUEST: Dr. Jason Nickerson, Humanitarian Affairs Advisor for Doctors Without Borders

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A new survey has found that many Canadians believe the culture surrounding hockey has issues concerning misogyny, racism and inclusion.

The survey by the Angus Reid Institute revealed that hockey remains an integral part of Canada’s cultural fabric, with 62 per cent of respondents saying they have at least one connection to youth hockey — either they played it themselves in the past, are close with someone who currently plays, or are simply fans.

The survey, however, did find concerns around hockey culture, with 64 per cent of respondents who coached or played youth hockey citing issues around players bullying kids outside of the rink.

When asked about misogyny in the sport, 29 per cent of all respondents said it was a serious problem, while 23 per cent said it was a small problem.

Among those with a connection to youth hockey, women were more likely than men to say the way young players treat women is a serious concern.

Twenty-nine per cent of respondents said hockey has a problem with racism, while 21 per cent said it is a problem but a small one.

GUEST: Sean Fitz Gerald, Senior National Writer with The Athletic

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats opened the 2021 Canadian Football League draft Tuesday night by selecting Boston College tight end Jake Burt with the first overall pick.

Burt, who was born in Regina, Sask. and raised in Boston, Mass., played 36 games over five years with the Eagles where he made 23 receptions for 307 yards and two touchdowns.

After making Burt the first pick in the draft, Hamilton signed the 24-year-old to a three-year contract.

GUEST: Drew Allemang, Senior Director of Personnel & Co-Manager of Football Operations with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats

The Bill Kelly Show Podcast:

Recent days have been the bleakest in a dark year for Ontario residents. The variant-driven third, and most serious, wave of COVID-19 has brought the province’s hospital system to the edge of critical breakdowns and claimed the life of a 13-year-old-girl — among Canada’s youngest victims in one of its most pandemic-ravaged communities.

Yet the province’s government, led by Premier Doug Ford, seems incapable of formulating an effective response to the situation. It has again failed to act on clear warnings from health experts. It has been left to individual local medical officers of health, especially in the hard-hit City of Toronto and Peel Region, to take direct action against key sources of outbreaks of the virus, like industrial and warehousing and distribution facilities.

The government seems unable to act on the consistent advice of its own science advisory table, preferring instead to avoid offending the industrial and business stakeholders to which the government consistently listens.

How can Ontario recover from Doug Ford’s COVID-19 governance disaster?

GUEST: Mark Winfield, Professor of Environmental Studies with York University

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As students across school boards in Ontario continue online learning amid the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has released a funding plan for the upcoming 2021-22 school year that will include the option for virtual learning.

Students across all school boards in Ontario did not return to in-person learning after the April Break which was delayed from the March Break.The government announced mid-April, during the break, that remote learning would continue “indefinitely.”

However, on Tuesday, Lecce announced funding for the upcoming 2021-22 school year that includes more than $2 billion for COVID-19 resources, to support learning recovery and renewal amid the pandemic and an increase in grants for student needs.

Remote learning will be available for families as an option for their children, if they choose, for the 2021-22 school year across all boards, the government also confirmed Tuesday.

ALSO: The kids are not all right: Educators worry about absences as COVID-19 challenges continue for parents, students

GUEST: Dawn Danko, Chair of the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board

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The number of Canadians experiencing mental health issues continues to rise across the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a new Ipsos poll suggests, with half of those surveyed being deemed at “high risk.”

Yet the poll also found an increasing number of people — 53 per cent — are willing to discuss their issues with family, health professionals or publicly on social media.

That number is a large jump from when Ipsos last polled the public on their experiences with mental health, in April 2018, when only 41 per cent of Canadians said they had discussed their issues.

GUEST: Jennifer McLeod Macey, Vice President of IPSOS Public Affairs