PM JUSTIN TRUDEAU DESCRIBED PROMISING VACCINE RESULTS AS A POTENTIAL `LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL,' BUT URGED CAUTION AS THERE ARE SEVERAL HURDLES TO MOUNT BEFORE THE VACCINE IS WIDELY AVAILABLE.
But we can't let our guard down, Trudeau warns
OTTAWA• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described promising vaccine results as a potential “light at the end of the tunnel,” Monday, but he also urged caution, because there are still several hurdles to mount before the vaccine is widely available.
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced Monday the vaccine it was developing with BioNTech was showing strong results. In addition to being safe, the vaccine was proving to be more than 90 per cent effective in preventing people from getting sick with the virus.
The data has yet to be independently verified, but the trial included a total of 43,538 people across multiple countries and from a wide range of ethnicities.
Trudeau said the news was encouraging, but said Canadians can’t ease up yet and still have to limit their social contacts, wear a mask when social distancing isn’t impossible and take other steps to reduce spread of the virus.
“We hope to see vaccines landing in the early next year, but between now and then it is really important that we double down on our efforts,” he said. “We need to do our part. We need to stay strong and hang in there a few more months.”
He stressed the early results from the vaccine are positive, but until it is administered it can’t help people.
“If you catch COVID in the coming days or weeks a vaccine won’t help you.”
Dr. Zain Chagla, a professor of medicine at McMaster University and expert in infectious diseases said society will still have to wait for the peer-review of the company’s research and for more safety data, but if that holds up this could be the beginning of the end of the pandemic.
Canada bought access to 20 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine, because the vaccine requires two doses to be effective, the early supply will be enough to inoculate roughly 10 million people, about a quarter of Canada’s 38 million people. When it announced the initial purchase in August, the government said it would be pursuing options to buy more than the initial 20 million, but those deals have not yet materialized.
The U.S. has ordered 100 million initial doses with options for another 500 million doses from the company as part of its large vaccine purchase. The company has said it can produce 50 million doses in 2020 and another 1.3 billion in 2021.
Canada has bought access to several vaccines and Trudeau said part of their strategy has always been to look for multiple options.
“Canada is one of the countries around the world with the very best portfolio of potential vaccines because we know that there is a certain amount of uncertainty as to which vaccines will land first,” he said.
The vaccine news is coming as COVID-19 cases continue to surge across the country, with high case counts in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec. Hospitals in some parts of the country are starting to feel strained and deaths are continuing to mount.
Pfizer’s vaccine candidate is one of three that have started providing evidence to Health Canada as part of the regulatory process. In a press release, the company said they hoped to have more data in late November and could submit information to regulators in the U.S. then.
The company’s vaccine has to be kept at temperatures below -80C and that will add to the complexity of its rollout should it be successful. The government has a tender underway for a logistics firm to manage the delivery and storage of vaccines.
Pfizer is set to handle delivery to provinces and territories in Canada, but the government is looking for a company to deliver large quantities of dry ice in order to keep the vaccines cold.
Chagla said that is one of the vaccine’s challenges.
“It’s not going to be an easy vaccine to roll out in pharmacies or family doctors’ offices,” he said.
All of the other potential candidates Canada has invested in have to be kept frozen or cool, but not at such low temperatures.
Chagla said he hopes to see more progress on the other vaccine candidates in time, because the Pfizer vaccine will be especially difficult to roll out in the developing world.
WE NEED TO STAY STRONG AND HANG IN THERE A FEW MORE MONTHS.