Ontario sticking with its vaccination timeline
Province awaits advice from Ottawa on possibly delaying second shots
Ontario should know by the weekend if it will get the goahead to delay second shots of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines by up to four months in a bid to boost the pace of vaccinations against COVID-19.
But Health Minister Christine Elliott would not venture any timelines for improvements or say how shipments of the AstraZeneca vaccine — which was recently approved for people under 65 — would impact the province’s plan, which was criticized by Liberal MPP John Fraser as “more of a stroll-out than an rollout.”
“There’s a lot that is in the mix right now,” Elliott said Tuesday, adding that vaccinating more people sooner could reduce hospitalizations and deaths.
Canada’s chief public health officer said the National Advisory Committee on Immunization is assessing the latest studies and aiming to issue recommendations to all provinces “this week” on delaying second shots without compromising the effectiveness of vaccines.
“As the science of COVID-19 vaccination continues to evolve, expert advice is being adapted to maximize the benefits of all of the authorized vaccines,” Dr. Theresa Tam told a news conference.
Whatever advice the advisory committee provides, “we will likely follow that,” said Elliott.
In contrast to a lack of detail from Ontario on its vaccinations, Prince Edward Island medical officer Dr. Heather Morrison said P.E.I.’s plan to delay second doses means it should be able to offer “every Islander over the age of 16 a single dose of vaccine by the end of June.”
British Columbia said Monday it would delay second doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines by up to four months. Other provinces are considering the move as well.
Ontario will need to keep both eyes open should it decide to stretch out the interval, said Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious diseases specialist at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Hamilton and an associate professor at McMaster University’s medical school.
Older Ontarians with weaker immune systems will likely need to get their booster shots on the manufacturers’ timetables of 21 days for Pfizer and 28 days for Moderna — schedules the province is adhering to for residents of nursing homes and high-risk retirement homes.
“It may be fine for the average person,” Chagla said.
Acknowledging governments are facing “pressure” to speed up vaccinations — Ontario is just getting to adults over 80 this month and isn’t scheduled to inject adults under 60 until summer at the earliest — the doctor warned delays could be “rolling the dice” on lower levels of immunity later with more contagious variants of COVID-19 circulating.
“We don’t know what the long-term immunology is,” Chagla said, echoing concerns from Canada’s chief science adviser Mona Nemer.
“Partial immunity is something that people need to be very wary of,” Nemer told CBC on Monday, calling the delays “a population-level experiment.”
New Democratic Party Leader Andrea Horwath said the latest uncertainty about timelines for Ontario’s vaccination plan leaves “more questions than answers” and residents confused, particularly with almost one-third of the province’s 34 regional health units now offering appointments for people over 80 to get injections.
In the meantime, the rest are waiting for Premier Doug Ford’s government to launch an online booking portal and telephone hotline on March 15 for vaccinations beginning in the third week of March.
The province has launched a test of its online booking portal with health units serving the Sarnia, Grey-Bruce, Belleville, Peterborough, Kingston and Leeds-Grenville and Lanark areas, which are using it to book appointments for a small number of adults over 80 and health-care workers. Health units using their own booking systems are expected to migrate to the provincial system at midmonth.
Elliott said the overall vaccination plan will be updated once federal guidance on the delayed second doses is received and details on shipments of the AstraZeneca vaccine are provided.