WAITING FOR PREFERRED VACCINE WILL ONLY PUT EVERYONE AT RISK

Which COVID-19 vaccine should you get?

“Whatever you can get your hands on,” said Windsor-essex Medical Officer of Health Dr. Wajid Ahmed.

Canada approved Johnson & Johnson's vaccine Friday, a week after approving Astrazeneca's. That's two more vaccines in two weeks. Canada now has four vaccines approved for use.

Pfizer-biontech was to deliver 440,000 doses to Canada every week this month. Now, an additional 1.5 million doses are also expected to arrive this month, ahead of schedule, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Friday. Moderna's 1.3 million doses for March will start arriving next week. Half a million doses of Astrazeneca's arrived Wednesday.

That's millions of doses, all coming in a few weeks — more than the total Canada has received since the first vaccine was approved in December.

And each one is slightly different. The efficacy of these vaccines ranges from 95 per cent for Pfizer-biontech to 62 per cent for Astrazeneca. They also have varying degrees of protection from the more contagious virus variants that have since emerged.

Plus, three of them require two shots. Only Johnson & Johnson's is one shot.

The vaccines will be allocated based on supply, demographics and how easy they are to move and store.

Astrazeneca's will be used in people under age 65 in Ontario because of concern that there isn't enough data on its use in people over age 65. Both it and Johnson & Johnson's will be used by family doctors and pharmacies because these vaccines can be stored in refrigerators.

But Johnson & Johnson's isn't expected to start arriving until April.

Pfizer's is more difficult to use because it has to be stored in freezers and then thawed and diluted. So it will be used in mass clinics, like the one at the WFCU Centre.

But some people are asking, can I pick which vaccine I get? Can I hold out for the one I want?

The answer is, take whatever you can get, wherever you can get it, as soon as you can get it.

You need to protect yourself from severe illness and death, and all of these vaccines will do that.

“The message is, despite slight differences in the efficacy of all these vaccines, these vaccines are all shown to reduce the severity and hospitalization related to COVID,” Ahmed told Friday's public briefing. “Whatever vaccine you can get your hands on, get it.”

Yes, the second wave is flattening. But Windsor and Essex County are still averaging 25 to 30 new cases a week. Twenty-nine new cases and 12 outbreaks were reported Friday. There are still 235 active cases. Hospitals are operating at more than 90-per-cent occupancy.

And people are still dying, every week. Three more deaths were reported Friday.

“With the variant cases increasing in the province, there is this possibility that we may see a surge in cases,” Ahmed said. “The risk is there. There is no doubt about it. We want to focus on continuing to vaccinate and continuing to keep people safe so we don't have to see a third wave.”

Public health and hospital staff here have administered a total of 30,334 vaccine doses as of Friday morning. That's among the most in Ontario. But it's a fraction of our population.

Canada is almost dead last among developed countries in the most crucial stage of this pandemic, when we can end it.

After a month of delays in vaccine delivery, now we have a chance to accelerate vaccination. A second mass clinic for people age 80 and over opens on Monday in Leamington. Local pharmacies will receive Astrazeneca as early as next week.

An expert panel has determined that first doses provide almost as much protection as two, and second doses can be delayed in order to protect more people faster.

This is about more than protecting yourself. This is about protecting your community. It's like following public health rules. We don't wear masks just to protect ourselves. We do it to protect everyone.

If you hold out for a vaccine that you think is better or more convenient, you're putting yourself and your community as risk.

Some people in Europe have been reluctant to get the Astrazeneca vaccine because they don't think it's as good, according to an Associated Press report. France has used only 25 per cent of its doses, and Germany is sitting on two million doses.

Meanwhile, COVID-19 cases are rising. Now, government and health officials are pleading with people to just get the vaccine.

We don't know exactly how all the vaccines compare, anyway. Some were tested before the new variants emerged. Some were tested after. No one knows how long immunity lasts for any of them. Companies are working on booster shots. Data is still coming in.

But we know enough. We know they're safe and effective. We know they'll end this pandemic.