Vaccine: Difficult choices

Canada got some good news this week — the country is getting an additional 20 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

Unfortunately, this additional vaccine will not make it to Canada until April or May.

This is important because this week CBC reported that British Columbia has now “slowed its pace” administering the vaccine while the province awaits for more vaccine.

Another decision that B.C. has had to make, related to the lack of supply for the COVID vaccine, is that the required second dose will now be administered 35 days after the first dose. 

This is to ensure as many vulnerable citizens as possible receive the first dose as possible and to maximize the limited supply.

The challenge with this is that Health Canada states the following:

“The vaccine is given by an injection (0.3 mL) into the muscle of the arm. For the vaccine to work best, you need to get 2 doses: a single dose and then a second dose 21 days later. Based on studies in about 44,000 participants, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was 95% effective in preventing COVID-19 beginning 1 week after the second dose. This means that people may not be fully protected against COVID-19 until at least seven days after the second dose.”

B.C. has indicated that extending the second dose to 35 days is ‘approved’ by the World Health Organization as well as the Federal Government.

This is noteworthy as Health Canada is the regulatory agency that approves the use of any vaccine or drug based on its arms length, evidence based process.

However, some groups of B.C. doctors have opposed this move suggesting it is potentially “unscientific, unsafe and unethical.”

The B.C. Nurses Union is also questioning this move stating that nurses “follow the other guidelines from the manufacturer around storage and handling of this vaccine," pointing out that; "now we're going to deviate?"

It is unfortunate B.C. is in this situation.

It is well known that the Trudeau Liberal government, for reasons unknown, made their first deal with the China based CanSino Biologics to deliver vaccine.

The Chinese government ultimately blocked this vaccine from coming to Canada.

As a result, Canada did not secure the large quantities of vaccine it now has on order from other manufactures in as timely of a manner.

My question this week is not a political one.

• If you received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine (as some citizens now have in the Okanagan) do you believe it is a reasonable expectation to receive the second dose within the 21 day timeframe as set out by the manufacturer?

I can be reached at [email protected] or call toll free 1-800-665-8711.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.