Canada ahead of schedule with vaccine rollout
Trudeau says 249,000 doses expected this month
Vaccines are on their way.
The prime minister declared as much Monday at a news conference in which he revealed that Canada is expecting 249,000 doses of the Pfizer/ BioNTech vaccine this month, weeks earlier than anticipated.
Federal officials had originally said we’d be getting six million total doses of that vaccine and another from Moderna between January and March, but that shipments would not arrive until the new year.
The Canadian government has spent months (and somewhere in the neighbourhood of a billion dollars) locking down advance-purchase agreements for seven different vaccine candidates, but still, supplies are going to be scarce, at least at first.
So who gets it? What’ll it be like? Who is first?
The Star answers some of your biggest questions.
How do I get a vaccine? Is there a waiting list?
The short answer here is you’re going to have to wait your turn for now unless you’re in a prioritized group based on age or other risk factors.
“This is not available to the general public just yet,” says Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases specialist at the Toronto General Hospital who was recently named to Ontario’s COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Task Force.
Health officials are going to be prioritizing certain groups based on risk. Current recommendations are for seniors, workers in long-term-care homes, front-line health-care workers and Indigenous groups to go first.
“After this group is vaccinated, and we have more access to more vaccines, we’ll see this gradually expand, hopefully in a very data-driven manner, to ensure that there’s an equitable access to vaccines,” Bogoch says. “At some point, and I don’t know when, anyone who wants a vaccine in Canada will have easy access to it.”
How does the vaccine work inside my body?
Generally speaking, vaccines work by mimicking the virus — or even just part of it — to teach your body what the threat looks like. That way, when the real virus shows up, your immune system is ready.
It used to be more common to use a weakened form of the actual virus for this, but the leading vaccine candidates Canada is looking at use just a piece of the virus — usually the “spike proteins,” or the bits that stick out from the virus’s body — or particles that look like the virus, but aren’t.
Both Pfizer and Moderna, the two leading candidates, are using a new technology involving mRNA. Think of it like a the recipe for a spike protein. When injected into your body, it prompts some of your cells to make spike proteins, which then teach your body to fight off coronavirus.
Because it’s just a recipe and not even for the whole virus, it can’t give you COVID-19 or affect your DNA.
How safe is it?
Each vaccine manufacturer was required to do three rounds of human testing on tens of thousands of people around the world. The results then go to Health Canada, whose scientists look at everything and decide if it’s safe to be used here.
“I think what people are hearing is that we’re rushing things, or they’re hearing that it’s happening so much faster than it was before,” Dr. Supriya Sharma, chief medical adviser for Health Canada, told the Star last week.
“I think what’s important to highlight is that the time in which these vaccines have been developed is shorter because of the advances in science … and how focused everyone is globally on the development of the vaccine.”
Why does it have to be kept so cold?
Because the Pfizer vaccine is using a brand-new technology with mRNA, they haven’t quite worked out all the kinks yet. The dose goes bad if not kept at super-cold temperatures — we’re talking -70 C, give or take 10 degrees.
While observers are hopeful researchers will be able to solve this problem in future versions of the vaccine, right now, this is the challenge transporters are dealing with.
Once I get a vaccine, am I instantly immune?
No. Most of the current leading vaccines require two doses, and building immunity takes time.
The Pfizer vaccine for example, requires you to take the second dose 21 days after the first. Immunity typically develops seven to 10 days after the second shot.
What do we mean by immune?
The vaccine candidates have been tested in giant trials to find out two major things. First, are these shots safe? Second, are they effective in preventing COVID-19 in individuals who have been exposed to the coronavirus?
Testing has shown both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to be in the ballpark of 95 per cent effective.
There are things that we don’t know yet. A big one is whether these vaccines help prevent transmission. In theory, a vaccinated person could be exposed to the coronavirus and not come down with COVID-19, but still spread it to another person.
So, once I get a vaccine, can I
go hug my grandfather?
Nope. Even once you’re vaccinated, we’re still going to have to be careful about spreading coronavirus to those who aren’t protected.
“We’ve got to be very careful as vaccine programs start rolling out. Eventually, we’ll start to see lifting of many of these public health restrictions, as a greater proportion of the population is vaccinated,” Bogoch says.
Can I choose which vaccine I get?
At first, vaccines are going to be in such short supply it’s unlikely you’ll get to choose between the two leading candidates, Bogoch says.
Supply will depend on which vaccines are eventually approved by Health Canada, but also on how much each company can make.
Do I have to pay for the vaccine?
The vaccine will be free in Canada. You’ve already paid, with your tax dollars.
Who has the vaccine been tested on?
Each company is required to do three rounds of testing on human volunteers, adding in more and more people as they go. Researchers choose test sites where they can get a diverse range of people and where the virus is spreading widely, to tell sooner if their vaccine is working.
All participants were volunteers who were not paid, but sometimes received a small stipend.
Does it hurt?
Getting the vaccine hurts as much as a normal needle does, and afterward, some participants have reported minor side effects.
According to Pfizer, its dose was “well tolerated,” with the more serious effects that occurred in more than two per cent of people being fatigue (affected 3.8 per cent of participants) and headache (two per cent).
What is getting it like?
Some people don’t react much, but one trial volunteer compared the after-effects to the couple of days before you get the flu, when you have a headache and are tired and lethargic.
Do I have to get a vaccine? No government in Canada is talking about mandatory vaccines, and Health Canada is officially against such an idea.
Is Canada going to have enough vaccine?
The federal government has spent months locking down what are called advance purchase agreements for seven vaccine candidates, which entitle us to a certain number of doses should that vaccine prove successful.
If all seven were approved, Canada would have more than 350 million doses, or enough to vaccinate the entire country five times.
Will I need a vaccine if I’ve already had COVID-19?
Probably. “It’s very likely that people who have recovered from COVID will still require a vaccine,” Bogoch says.
People who have recovered from COVID-19 do have some degree of immunity, but it’s not clear how much or for how long, and there are now multiple credible cases of people getting reinfected.
What are the long-term consequences of this vaccine?
The first vaccine trials began in March, so that is currently the oldest information we have about these doses.
While the safety data from the human trials looks positive, there are still things we’re going to learn as we go, and continuing to monitor the safety of these vaccines after they roll out is going to be important.
Said Sharma: “If we get a report of something that’s an adverse reaction that is unexpected and serious, we hold that lot of the vaccine, wherever it may be, while we investigate.”