Vaccinating health staff could save more lives

Experts say favour essential workers before seniors

VANCOUVER -- New research from experts at Simon Fraser University suggests B.C. should change its COVID-19 vaccine rollout plans to prioritize essential workers who can’t avoid contact with others.

The experts outline in a paper, which is yet to be peer-reviewed, how modelling shows vaccinating essential workers earlier could prevent more infections and deaths than starting with the oldest residents before reaching younger people.

The experts in modelling say the shift in strategy for vaccinating the general population would also save millions in health-care costs and reduce instances of so-called long COVID, or people who experience symptoms for more than 28 days.

The third phase of B.C.’s immunization campaign is set to start in April and last until June, reaching people between the ages of 60 and 79, along with those who are highly clinically vulnerable, such as cancer patients.

Researchers say their modelling shows prioritizing workers in essential services including teaching, retail, food production and policing would reduce the amount of virus circulating in the population and provide “a significant level of indirect protection for older adults.”

Paul Tupper, a math professor and co-author of the paper, says it might seem counterintuitive to shift away from prioritizing older people at greater risk of illness, but the best way to protect them is to keep the prevalence of COVID-19 down in the general population.

"A very effective way of doing that is vaccinating people that have lots of contacts as part of their job," he said Wednesday.

A key consideration is that although the vaccines approved in Canada so far are effective, 5-10% of people who get both doses may not be protected, along with those who decline receiving the shot.

That means as many as 20-30% of people targeted in the next phase of B.C.'s immunization campaign may not be protected from getting sick with COVID-19, he said, but it's possible to prevent exposure by reducing transmission among people in greater contact with others.

The modelling concludes that vaccinating B.C.'s essential workers sooner, rather than an oldestfirst strategy, would prevent more than 200,000 infections and more than 600 deaths.

During a news briefing on Tuesday, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry stuck by the plan to begin an age-based vaccination campaign in the spring, saying the approach has been "supported across the world."

B.C. officials would consider changing the plan to include essential workers if enough doses of vaccine became available, she said.