Moderna shortfall may impact Niagara Pfizer doses, Hirji says
Region could get less Pfizer shots as province juggles supply
The reduction in Canada’s shipments of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine could result in less Pfizer doses for Niagara, says the region’s acting medical officer of health.
Dr. Mustafa Hirji said he is concerned the latest blow to Canada’s vaccination efforts could result in more shipments of doses bound for Niagara to be diverted elsewhere. And without transparent communications from the provincial government, his public health department faces an uncertain short-term future when it comes to trying to protect Niagara residents from the potentially lethal novel coronavirus.
Moderna is temporarily reducing the size of shipments to Canada and other countries while the company manages manufacturing issues. That means there will be less Moderna vaccines for Ontario, which Hirji said could be the first domino to fall that could result in less vaccine for Niagara.
Hirji said Moderna doses are being shipped to communities in Ontario that cannot store Pfizer vaccines in specialized, supercooled freezers, and to regions deemed to be COVID-19 hot spots, such as Peel and Toronto.
Niagara, despite the region’s high infection rate and historic death toll, is not considered a hot spot by the provincial government, which is in charge of vaccine distribution in Ontario. The government of Premier Doug Ford has not explained why Niagara is not considered a hot spot. Recently, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health falsely claimed Niagara’s COVID-19 infection rate only recently worsened. In fact, the region’s spike in infections began in early December and only started to slow down over the past week.
The resulting explosion in
infections — about half of Niagara’s total COVID-19 infections happened in January according to an analysis by the St. Catharines Standard — triggered a wave of outbreaks in longterm-care homes.
COVID-19 related deaths in long-term-care homes spiked with last week being Niagara’s deadliest of the pandemic to date with 71 deaths over seven days. In total, at least 311 Niagara residents with the virus have died — a fact few local politicians have acknowledged.
Only three of 13 Niagara municipalities have issued statements of condolences to the community.
Niagara’s health department has been vaccinating longterm-care and retirement home residents who have yet to be exposed to the virus with the Pfizer vaccine.
The first doses of the two-dose series began Jan 13. Second doses are expected to start being administered Wednesday.
Hirji said the current supply of Pfizer vaccines in Niagara should be enough to provide the second shot to those residents who have received their doses.
However, there is not enough Pfizer locally to administer second doses to health-care workers who have received their first shot because of a recent cutback in Pfizer shipments while the company upgrades its manufacturing capacity.
As supplies dry up across Ontario, Hirji said it is possible the provincial government still start to redistribute vaccines according to its priorities.
Moderna shipments in GTA regions may be diverted to communities that cannot store Pfizer doses, he said. To make up for vaccine shortfalls in those GTA regions, the province could move Pfizer away from places like Niagara, again leaving the community short of doses.
Hirji said if that happens, people who are not being prioritized for their second Pfizer doses may have to wait even longer.
“We haven’t been told how this might impact future shipments to Niagara,” Hirji said.
The provincial government has taken COVID-19 vaccines away from Niagara recently. At the same time the first Pfizer doses arrived in the region, a shipment of 5,500 Moderna doses bound for Niagara was diverted elsewhere with no explanation to local health authorities already planning the vaccine rollout.