Federal government secures another 20M COVID-19 vaccine doses from Pfizer
- par Laura Grandis
- dans Médecine
- — Jan 14, 2021
Mathieu Boivin, a spokesman for the health authority serving Quebec City, said that an unspecified number of residents developed COVID-19 after receiving the vaccine, but he could not say if any of them died, citing confidentiality surrounding medical records.
He says that means Canada will receive 80 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines this year, and that he remains confident the federal government will meet its goal of providing shots to everyone who wants them by September.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada will purchase an additional 20 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
Those numbers could change if Canada approves more vaccines, including two now being reviewed by Health Canada.
Both the Moderna and the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines require two shots: a priming dose, followed by a booster shot.
On whether a person with an active COVID-19 infection be vaccinated, AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria said a person with active and symptomatic COVID-19 infection may increase the risk of spreading the same to others at the vaccination site and thus infected individuals should defer vaccination for at least 14 days after the symptoms are resolved.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Tuesday said the administration was releasing its full stockpile of two vaccines approved for emergency use, including some that had been held in reserve to make sure that second doses could be given on schedule.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.'s chief public health officer, said this week that province can vaccinate another 150,000 vulnerable people by the end of March by using a 35-day dosing schedule. The province should receive 28,275 Pfizer and 20,700 Moderna doses this week, according to information from the federal government.
As of January 7, almost 550,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been distributed across the country.
NACI's recommendations acknowledge the lack of evidence for delaying the doses, but said that with other vaccines, waiting longer than recommended to give a second dose hasn't typically reduced the final level of immunity to a disease.
Provinces led by premiers of all political stripes said they can administer more doses than they have received, or they will be given over the next few months.
"The studies weren't set up to do that", she said.
Public health officials say so far no USA state has used up its supply of the vaccines.
