Ontario ramps up vaccinations as Moderna arrives up North
Ontario is ramping up COVID19 vaccinations after facing criticism for scaling down operations over the holidays, while a second approved vaccine, made by Moderna, has started arriving in Canada’s North.
Retired Gen. Rick Hillier, who is leading Ontario’s vaccine program, said the decision to close clinics over Christmas Day and Boxing Day was the wrong one.
“We’ve heard the voices of the people of Ontario saying ‘get on with this’ and that’s what we are going to do,” he told a news conference Tuesday.
“We will not take any more days off.”
At least 63,887 doses of the first approved vaccine, by PfizerBioNTech, have been administered across Canada so far, according to a vaccine tracker run by a University of Saskatchewan student based on official updates from each province.
Hillier said more than 14,000 people in Ontario had received their first dose of the PfizerBioNTech shot as of Tuesday morning. That number put the province behind the rest of the country with about 95 vaccinations per 100,000 people. In comparison, Quebec had administered 22,500 doses or about 265 per 100,000.
Hillier said he has asked Health Canada to look into whether the Moderna vaccine could be used as a single dose rather than two, allowing millions of people to get immunized faster.
“Maybe with the high efficiency that protects you in the first needle, it would be best for the entire population if we went with just a one-shot vaccination program with Moderna,” he said.
Health Canada’s chief medical adviser Dr. Supriya Sharma, who is tasked with overseeing approval of vaccines, said last week officials are still recommending a second dose.
“For the Pfizer vaccine, the second dose is given after 21 days,” she said at the time. “For the Moderna, it’s after a month, about 28 days.
“We would say give the first dose and then make sure you can give a second dose in a month.”
Sharma said officials wouldn’t recommend a significant delay in the second dose, but there is some flexibility.
Hillier said Ontario is expected to receive roughly 50,000 doses of the Moderna shot by Wednesday, with vaccinations in long-term care homes set to follow within 48 to 72 hours.
Dr. Jazz Atwal, acting deputy chief provincial public health officer for Manitoba, said the province also expects to receive some of the Moderna vaccine this week and 2,177 doses of the PfizerBioNTech vaccine have already been administered.
“We’re planning on another 1,000 this week,” he said. “And we’re ramping that up so that next week we’re looking at roughly 6,000 doses to be administered.”
Health Canada said in an email that officials would provide an update Wednesday on the vaccine roll out across the country.
The Moderna vaccine, which doesn’t require extreme-cold storage, has already started arriving in the North.
Both the Northwest Territories and Yukon have received their first shipments.
N.W.T. Health Minister Julie Green said in a tweet that the territory received 7,200 doses of the Moderna vaccine Monday evening and vaccinations are to start with elders the week of Jan. 11.
Yukon Health Social Services Minister Pauline Frost said the territory has received 7,200 doses of the Moderna vaccine and more shipments are expected in early January. She said teams are being trained on safe storage, handling and delivery of the doses before vaccinations start next week, immunizing vulnerable groups first, such as high-risk long-term care residents and staff.
Ontario reported nearly 4,500 new cases of COVID-19 over the past two days and Quebec said it had 2,381 new infections in the past 24 hours. Manitoba reported 133 new cases Tuesday and Saskatchewan said it has had 208 new cases in the past two days.
There was one new case in Newfoundland and two cases each in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.
Quebec became the fourth province Tuesday to confirm its first case of the variant of the virus that is believed to be more contagious. It was first identified in the United Kingdom and the province is calling for rapid testing at airports.
Three other provinces have confirmed cases of the variant in recent days, with three cases in Ontario, one in Alberta and one in British Columbia.