Canada’s chief public health officer said Tuesday she expects Canadians who got the Oxford-AstraZeneca in the first round of COVID-19 vaccinations will be able to choose which vaccine they get for their second dose.
Dr. Theresa Tam‘s comments came hours after a small Spanish study on mixing and matching vaccines reported that giving a Pfizer-BioNTech shot for the second dose after AstraZeneca is safe and produced twice as many antibodies as a second dose of AstraZeneca.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization, known as NACI, is still awaiting further data from another mixing-and-matching study underway in the United Kingdom, but Tam said advice on second doses should be ready before most people are due to get their second vaccination.
“It is likely that people in Canada who’ve received one dose of AstraZeneca will have a choice for their second dose,” she said at a news conference from Ottawa.
The decision could affect more than 2.1 million people vaccinated with AstraZeneca, and is related mainly to safety issues for that vaccine. Tam said there are now 21 confirmed cases of vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia, or VITT, the rare but serious blood-clotting disorder potentially linked to AstraZeneca.
Another 13 cases are under investigation. Three women have died.
NACI advised last month that people at low risk of getting COVID-19 should get either Pfizer or Moderna, leading many to wonder if they should risk getting another dose of AstraZeneca.
Tam and Health Minister Patty Hajdu said there will be enough doses of vaccine for AstraZeneca recipients regardless of which kind it is.
“I think everybody’s anxious to make sure people who got the first dose of AstraZeneca do have the ability to get that second dose,” said Tam.
She has said that a less socially distanced summer will depend on curbing case rates, reducing hospital patients and getting more vaccines into arms. She said if 75 per cent of eligible Canadians _ right now that’s people over 12 _ get one dose, and 20 per cent get both doses, the summer could hold the promise of backyard barbecues, camping, outdoor picnics and evenings out with friends on a restaurant patio.
“We’re not there yet, but I am really hopeful because of how fast some of the vaccines are going in the arms,” she said.
On Tuesday, about 17.6 million Canadians had at least one dose, or 55 per cent of people over the age of 12. Another 1.5 million have both doses, about 4.5 per cent of the eligible group.
0 Comments