Canada’s vaccine efforts doubled over 5 weeks as daily cases drop

Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout continues to soar while daily cases decline, but as Canadians head into the Victoria Day long weekend, the country’s deputy chief medical officer is urging caution.

We can’t risk a “post-holiday spike” that could threaten the progress we’ve made, Dr. Howard Njoo said Friday as Canada extended a ban to incoming flights from India and Pakistan, and a surge of cases in Manitoba sparked an urgent plea for federal help.

Njoo asked people to choose lower-risk outdoor activities and follow the public health advice of their respective jurisdictions while celebrating the holiday.

“Our actions this long weekend could not be more important,” Njoo said. “COVID-19 resurgences have followed social gatherings during past holidays and long weekends.

“With important work we have left to do, this weekend is not the time to let our guard down.”

Njoo said vaccinations have doubled in five weeks to reach nearly 20 million jabs administered to date, while daily COVID-19 cases have declined by 25 per cent over the past seven days.

Hospitalizations, deaths and critical-care admissions remain high, but those figures are also decreasing, Njoo said.

Dr. David Williams said the National Advisory Committee on Immunization does not recommend mixing vaccine doses — getting an mRNA vaccine for a second jab after receiving a first dose of AstraZeneca — because trial data is still not available.

Several provinces stopped administering AstraZeneca for first doses earlier in the month, citing dwindling supply and risk of a rare blood clotting disorder seen in a small number of recipients of the viral vector vaccine.