Give second dose now, Maimonides families say
A COVID-19 related death of a senior at Maimonides Geriatric Centre and new cases among seniors awaiting their second dose of the Pfizer/biontech vaccine is proof Quebec should not deviate from the drug manufacturer's inoculation recommendation, family members say.
“We want them to follow the science,” said Joyce Shanks, whose father was among the first Quebecers to be vaccinated on Dec. 14.
Her father, along with hundreds of residents in CHSLDS and thousands of health-care workers, had been scheduled to receive their second dose starting Jan. 3 — 21 days after the first dose.
But with COVID-19 cases surging across the province and hospitals swamped with sick patients, Quebec has decided to change its vaccination strategy.
It now plans to use all the vaccines it has received to date to provide some immunity to as many people in high-risk categories as possible. A second dose will be provided down the road when enough doses become available.
In the meantime, a 90-year-old Maimonides resident, who developed Covid-19-symptoms 18 days after receiving his first dose in December, died on Wednesday at the Jewish General Hospital.
A handful of other Maimonides seniors, who have also received their first dose of the vaccine, have developed COVID-19, family members say.
Beverly Spanier, a retired teacher and Maimonides resident, tested positive for COVID-19 a few days after receiving the first dose of the vaccine. She was hospitalized but is now back home.
There has also been an outbreak at the CHSLD St-antoine in Quebec City, the province's first vaccination site.
In justifying the decision to no longer keep doses in reserve, Health Minister Christian Dubé and Dr. Lawrence Rosenberg, executive director of Montreal's centre-west health authority, have said one dose of the vaccine reaches an efficacy rate of 90 per cent after two weeks.
“Please rest assured that this change will not affect your health or well-being,” Rosenberg said in an email to staff on Jan. 1.
Shanks said she has contacted Rosenberg to ask him to clarify his remarks, but said he's not responding to her emails.
“There's a mistrust developing,” she said. “I don't know where he's getting his information from. The nursing staff is saying they feel like guinea pigs.”
Rosenberg's statement was based on information provided by the health ministry and the Quebec Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, said Carl Thériault, a spokesperson for Montreal's centre-west health authority.
A spokesperson for Pfizer Canada told the Montreal Gazette on Saturday the safety and efficacy of the vaccine has not been evaluated on different dosing schedules.
“There are no data to demonstrate that protection after the first dose is sustained after 21 days,” said Christina Antoniou, director of corporate affairs for Pfizer Canada.
According to the Pfizer study, the vaccine efficacy observed 12 days after the first dose and before the second dose was 52.4 per cent, not 90 per cent as Dubé and Rosenberg have stated.
“Although partial protection from the vaccine appears to begin as early as 12 days after the first dose, two doses of the vaccine are required to provide the maximum protection (95 per cent) against the disease,” Antoniou wrote in an email.
Health authorities can recommend alternative dosing regimens, based on public health needs during the pandemic, but the company “believes it is critical to conduct surveillance efforts on any alternative schedules implemented … to ensure each recipient is afforded the maximum possible protection, which means immunization with two doses of the vaccine.”
Dida Berku, a Côte- St-luc city councillor whose mother resides at Maimonides, said Health Canada should step in and force Quebec to stick to Pfizer's recommended dosing schedule, which is two doses, three weeks apart.
“To do otherwise is to undermine the confidence that the public has in this vaccination program,” Berku said. “Health Canada should not support, nor can it tolerate, this haphazard improvisation.”
Berku said she has no idea when Maimonides residents and staff will receive the second dose.
“It's vague and imprecise,” she said. “We don't know if they will get it in 42 days or 90 days.”
Berku pointed out that Dr. Supriya Sharma, Health Canada's chief medical adviser, said on Friday health authorities should be careful about advising a single dose of either the Pfizer-biontech or Moderna vaccines can offer a high level of immunity.
Constitutional lawyer Julius Grey has called upon the government to honour its original agreement with the Maimonides residents. Families have threatened legal action if the government does not reverse course.
More than 60 Maimonides residents have died after contracting COVID-19 during the pandemic.
Sharon Shenker was present outside Maimonides last month when Dubé spoke to reporters after the first dose was administered. Families were promised their loved ones would receive a second shot 21 days later.
“Everyone was so proud, we all thought they're going to be safe and it would save my mother's life,” Shenker said. “My mother is (still) isolated in her room. She needs new glasses and she can't see us on our Skype chat.”