The first batch of Canada’s supply of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine is set to arrive tomorrow — but public health officials still have some distribution issues to sort out before they can deliver those shots.
Health Canada approved the AstraZeneca product last Friday. The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), the independent panel that sets the guidelines for vaccine deployment, is not recommending that these shots be used in people aged 65 and over.
While Health Canada has determined the product is safe to use on all adults, NACI said there isn’t enough clinical trial data available to determine how effective this product is in preventing COVID-19 infection among people in this older cohort.
Health officials will be under pressure to quickly establish priorities for distribution of the AstraZeneca shots because 300,000 of the 500,000 doses set to arrive this week from the Serum Institute of India will expire in just a month’s time.
Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, said NACI is prepared to update its guidance “as they see more and more real world data accumulating,” but for now the AstraZeneca product should be directed at younger Canadians.
“Don’t read their recommendations as sort of static. But this is what they’ve recommended at this point,” Tam said. “Just watch this space.”
It’s up to the provinces and territories to decide how to put these AstraZeneca shots to use. Some scheduling adjustments will be required because most jurisdictions are focused on vaccinating the elderly at this early stage of the immunization campaign.
Tam said some of the groups that were “potentially prioritized a little bit later on” will have a chance to get their shots earlier than planned because of the NACI guidance.
Most provinces have said that — after the elderly, front line health care workers and Indigenous adults are vaccinated — essential workers and people who face a greater risk of illness should be next in line for the second phase of shots.
Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, the military commander leading the federal government’s vaccine logistics, said the shots will be “expedited as quickly as possible” to prevent wastage.
