Alberta to expand use of AstraZeneca vaccine to those aged 40 and over

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Alberta is lowering the minimum age requirement for the AstraZeneca vaccine from 55 years to 40 as early as Tuesday, the premier announced on social media Sunday evening.

Premier Jason Kenney’s Twitter post came several hours after Ontario’s government announced the same adjustment to eligibility for the vaccine. Both provinces had limited the AstraZeneca shot to those over 55 years after concerns of extremely rare blood clots led the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) to recommend the vaccine not be offered to younger age groups.

“This decision is based on growing scientific knowledge about the vaccine and is based on (Dr. Deena Hinshaw)’s advice,” Kenney wrote, referencing the province’s chief medical officer of health.

“Details will follow (Monday) morning, and bookings will open for Tuesday.”

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The AstraZeneca vaccine is licensed by Health Canada for use in people over the age of 18. In a news release on April 14, Health Canada reassured the public that “the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine continues to be safe and effective at protecting them against COVID-19 and encourages people to get immunized with any of the COVID-19 vaccines that are authorized in Canada.”

The announcement from Kenney comes after thousands of appointments for AstraZeneca vaccinations went unfilled at Calgary’s downtown mass-immunization hub last week.

The vaccination clinic at the Telus Convention Centre can process up to 6,000 shots per day. At its low point, on Thursday, only 211 AstraZeneca appointments were booked. On Monday, the first day shots were available at the site, there were 2,855 AstraZeneca appointments, but that number dropped to 756 on Tuesday, 428 on Wednesday and 414 on Friday.

Comparatively, the convention centre had about 900 Pfizer appointments booked Monday and Tuesday, and about 2,060 appointments each day from Wednesday through Friday.

On April 10 during a news conference, Kenney mentioned vaccine hesitancy might make it so Alberta can’t administer its entire AstraZeneca inventory, while he urged those who were eligible to get their shot.

The risk of dying from COVID-19 far outweighs the risk of developing a blood clot after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine, Hinshaw said Saturday when Alberta confirmed Canada’s second case of an AstraZeneca-linked blood clot.

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COVID-19 ICU admissions surpass 100 as province reports 1,516 new cases

As another nine COVID-19 patients were admitted to intensive-care units on Sunday, Alberta ICU admissions surpassed 100 for the first time since the end of January.

Intensive-care patients represent 23 per cent of Alberta’s 451 total hospitalizations, as 103 people are now receiving care in ICUs. And with another 1,516 cases of COVID-19 reported Sunday, including 800 variant cases, hospitalizations are expected to continue climbing.

Alberta recorded its peak COVID-19 ICU admissions at 151 on Dec. 28, around the same time active case counts reached a high of 21,131. Alberta’s current active case count is nearing that peak again with the province reporting a total 17,935 active cases on Sunday.

As cases declined following the second wave, ICU admissions dipped as low as 30 in early March. ICU admissions have more than tripled since then, and hospitalization rates are up about 80 per cent.

Variant cases account for 54.5 per cent of the province’s active cases, with more than 4,100 active variant cases in the Calgary zone alone. All 800 of the variant cases reported Sunday were the B.1.1.7 strain first identified in the United Kingdom.

In total, Alberta has detected 16,428 cases of the B.1.1.7 strain, 168 cases of the P.1 variant discovered in Brazil and 31 cases of the B.1.351 variant identified in South Africa. Of these cases, 9,768 remain active.

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In the Calgary zone there are 7,879 total active cases, including 4,151 variant cases. With 6,318 of those active cases in the city, Calgary has an active case rate of 462.2 per 100,000 population.

The total new cases of COVID-19 in Alberta logged on Sunday came from 15,343 tests for a positivity rate of 9.8 per cent.

Three additional deaths were reported, including a man in his 70s who was linked to an outbreak at Trinity Reformed Church in Lethbridge, a man in his 60s from the South zone and a man in his 70s from the Edmonton zone.

This is the first death connected to the outbreak at the Lethbridge church. The outbreak at Trinity Reform Church resulted in 20 total cases, with 18 of those now recovered, according to Alberta Health.

Another 25,147 doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered Saturday, bringing the total number of shots given to 1,147,048.

There are 227,770 people who have received both their first and second shots of vaccine, which means there are 919,278 who have gotten at least one dose.

— With files from Alanna Smith and Jason Herring

sbabych@postmedia.com
Twitter: @BabychStephanie