Vaccine won’t be magic bullet — prof
While the federal government says it could approve a COVID-19 vaccine and begin shipments in the next two months nobody should be expecting a magic bullet is on the horizon, says a Halifax health policy expert.
Dalhousie University political science professor Katherine Fierlbeck says there remains a lot about the vaccine that's unknown over the short and long-term, including its potential side effects, ability to fight off the disease and prevent spread.
“We need to know whether it will work on vulnerable populations and we need to know whether it has an effect on asymptomatic people because otherwise asymptomatic people who are vaccinated could still potentially spread the disease," said Fierlbeck. “We don't know its effectiveness over the long-term.”
Canada could approve Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine “around December,” about the same time as the United States and the European Union, a senior official at Canada's drug regulator said on Thursday.
Supriya Sharma, senior medical adviser at Health Canada, predicted at a media briefing in Ottawa that final vaccine authorizations could happen in December with Canada receiving shipments in January.
“Getting those moving in January are the best (forecasts) we can give at this time,” she said.
Asked whether any Canadians could receive a shot before the end of the year, Sharma said several things are happening at the same time — regulatory reviews, manufacturing, distribution — which
makes it difficult to pinpoint dates.
At least 20 million Americans are expected to be vaccinated in December alone. Meanwhile the federal government has been unclear about a national rollout program. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to speak with premiers Thursday evening to offer more details.
Premier Stephen Mcneil spoke to reporters in Halifax on Thursday and predicted Nova Scotia would get its fair share of vaccines. He expected provinces would receive vaccines on a per capita basis. The federal government should put in place protocols concerning who gets priority access to the initial limited supply, said the premier.
"The bigger question should be, and it would be my advice to the national government, to lay out who gets the vaccine first, what are the categories," said Mcneil.
Ottawa has a plan to procure and distribute millions of COVID-19 vaccines in early 2021.
This past summer the feds signed a deal for 20 million doses of Pfizer’s mrna-based vaccine and said it was negotiating with the company to include options in the contract for getting more doses.
Fierlbeck said Canadians should have at least some skepticism about how effective the vaccine will be, especially with so much money on the line and governments under tremendous pressure to make vaccines widely available.
“You wonder what kind of results are being reported,” said Fierlbeck. “It’s healthy to be skeptical. It’s difficult to whom these vaccines should be directed if we don’t know who they work on the best.”