Local top doc still urging people to accept first vaccine available

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The medical officer of health for Windsor-Essex is still encouraging residents to roll up their sleeves for the first COVID-19 vaccine available to them after a national panel said people might want to wait for an mRNA shot.

“What we know in Ontario, the community spread and transmission is significant enough — it’s leading to many hospitalizations and people dying,” said Dr. Wajid Ahmed on Tuesday. “If we’re looking at it from that perspective, then obviously you should get the first vaccine available.”

Ahmed said those living in places where the risk of contracting COVID-19 is low “may have that opportunity to choose” between the mRNA vaccines (Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech) — a preference bolstered by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) — and the less praised viral vector vaccines (AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson).

The advisory committee — a panel of physicians and other vaccine experts — sparked public backlash and confusion Monday after saying mRNA vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech are “preferred” because the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines carry a rare risk of blood clots.

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The committee, which, according to its website, provides non-binding “recommendations for the use of vaccines currently or newly approved for use in humans in Canada,” said the viral-vector vaccines should only be administered to those over the age of 30. Health Canada has approved the single-dose vaccine for individuals 18 and older.

In its statement, NACI said it “continues to preferentially recommend” mRNA vaccines “due to the excellent protection they provide and the absence of safety signals of concern.”

Those “signals of concern” refer to rare blood clots (immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia) reported in a small number of AstraZeneca recipients.

As of Monday, 36,527 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine had been administered to Windsor-Essex residents, compared to 28,466 Moderna doses and 106,933 Pfizer-BioNTech. The region has not received any Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Although 57 local pharmacies are participating in the vaccine rollout and administering the AstraZeneca shot, few doses, if any, are still available. The region’s six mass vaccination sites have been primarily using Pfizer-BioNTech as well as some Moderna, which was heavily used to immunize the region’s long-term care home residents and staff.

To date, 157,981 local residents (36.1 per cent) have received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 13,945 (3.2 per cent) have received two doses.

This week, Canada will receive more than three million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, including two million from Pfizer and one million from Moderna. The Moderna shipment was originally scheduled to arrive next week, but is now set to arrive Wednesday.

Nearly 50 million doses are projected to arrive by June 30.

tcampbell@postmedia.com

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