Canada: Expert panel recommended four-month interval between doses due to vaccine shortage

A national group of immunization experts from Canada on Wednesday recommended that provinces expand to four months the interval between doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to inoculate more people due to the shortage of vaccines in the country.

Several provinces have indicated that they will follow the recommendation. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also expressed optimism about the possibility of accelerating the vaccination campaign. However, one of the senior health officials noted that the recommendation was an experiment and noted that no other country was doing it.

The current protocol states that there should be an interval of three to four weeks between the administration of each dose of the coronavirus vaccines developed by Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca. Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine requires only one dose and has not yet received Canadian approval.

The National Advisory Commission on Immunization said that extending the interval between doses to four months would allow up to 80% of Canadians over 16 to receive their first dose by the end of June just with the anticipated supply of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.

The second dose would begin in July as more shipments arrive.said the panel, which pointed out that delivery of 55 million doses is expected between July, August and September. Although the country has signed contracts to receive many more doses than it needs for its entire population, the date of arrival is not short-term.

For comparison, the federal government previously said 38% of the population would receive both doses by the end of June.

“They make, I think, a reasonable estimate in times of vaccine shortageSaid Dr. Andrew Morris, professor of infectious diseases at the University of Toronto and director of medicine for the antimicrobial stewardship program at the Sinai-University Health Network. “In my opinion, this is the right decision. Let me ask you … You have two photos for a couple. Do you give two to one person or do you give one and one each? It’s logic“.

Adding the new AstraZeneca vaccine to the national supply would mean that almost the entire population would receive the first dose within that time frame.

“The effectiveness of the first dose of the vaccine will be closely monitored and the decision to delay the second dose will be constantly evaluated based on observational data and efficacyas well as in the design of post-implementation studies, ”the panel wrote.

(By Rob Gillies / AP)

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