A couple walks to a COVID-19 vaccination clinic, in Montreal, on March 23, 2021.Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press
Canada has hit a milestone in its COVID-19 vaccination drive and the federal government says it expects to deliver at least 1.5 million more doses within the next week.
Howard Njoo, deputy chief public health officer, said during a news conference Thursday that the country had surpassed the 10-per-cent mark of residents over 18 receiving at least one shot.
“To date, over 4.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Canada,” Dr. Njoo said in Ottawa. “This marks an important milestone, with more than 11 per cent of eligible adult Canadians ... having received at least one dose.”
Dr. Njoo said that includes 60 per cent of people older than 80 and 19 per cent between 70 and 79. More than 60 per cent of adults in the three territories have received their first shot, he said.
But he warned those numbers aren’t enough to stop the spread as more transmissible variants continue to pose a “significant threat” until more people are vaccinated.
Canada pre-purchased millions of doses of seven different vaccine types, and Health Canada has approved four so far for the various provincial and territorial rollouts. All the drugs are fully effective in preventing serious illness and death, though some may do more than others to stop any symptomatic illness at all (which is where the efficacy rates cited below come in).
- Also known as: Comirnaty
- Approved on: Dec. 9, 2020
- Efficacy rate: 95 per cent with both doses in patients 16 and older, and 100 per cent in 12- to 15-year-olds
- Traits: Must be stored at -70 C, requiring specialized ultracold freezers. It is a new type of mRNA-based vaccine that gives the body a sample of the virus’s DNA to teach immune systems how to fight it. Health Canada has authorized it for use in people as young as 12.
- Also known as: SpikeVax
- Approved on: Dec. 23, 2020
- Efficacy rate: 94 per cent with both doses in patients 18 and older, and 100 per cent in 12- to 17-year-olds
- Traits: Like Pfizer’s vaccine, this one is mRNA-based, but it can be stored at -20 C. It’s approved for use in Canada for ages 12 and up.
- Also known as: Vaxzevria
- Approved on: Feb. 26, 2021
- Efficacy rate: 62 per cent two weeks after the second dose
- Traits: This comes in two versions approved for Canadian use, the kind made in Europe and the same drug made by a different process in India (where it is called Covishield). The National Advisory Committee on Immunization’s latest guidance is that its okay for people 30 and older to get it if they can’t or don’t want to wait for an mRNA vaccine, but to guard against the risk of a rare blood-clotting disorder, all provinces have stopped giving first doses of AstraZeneca.
- Also known as: Janssen
- Approved on: March 5, 2021
- Efficacy rate: 66 per cent two weeks after the single dose
- Traits: Unlike the other vaccines, this one comes in a single injection. NACI says it should be offered to Canadians 30 and older, but Health Canada paused distribution of the drug for now as it investigates inspection concerns at a Maryland facility where the active ingredient was made.
How many vaccine doses do I get?
All vaccines except Johnson & Johnson’s require two doses, though even for double-dose drugs, research suggests the first shots may give fairly strong protection. This has led health agencies to focus on getting first shots to as many people as possible, then delaying boosters by up to four months. To see how many doses your province or territory has administered so far, check our vaccine tracker for the latest numbers.
Federal officials said a total of six million vaccine doses have been delivered to the provinces and territories.
“With nearly two million vaccine doses to be distributed next week, we are clearly on track to receive eight million vaccine doses, reaching our objective for this quarter,” said Major-General Dany Fortin, the military commander who is overseeing the country’s vaccine program logistics.
Maj.-Gen. Fortin said he doesn’t expect any disruption to shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine from Europe, despite concerns about potential export reductions by the European Union.
He said 1.2 million Pfizer doses are to arrive next week – the same as this week, which was the largest shipment so far. Another 846,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine are also being delivered.
The first 1.5 million Oxford-AstraZeneca doses coming from the United States could also arrive next week, Maj.-Gen. Fortin said, but a date has not yet been confirmed.
Maj.-Gen. Fortin said there’s no indication that shipments of vaccine to Canada from India will be delayed, but added those discussions are continuing.
Media reports Wednesday said India has halted exports of Covishield, the version of AstraZeneca produced at that country’s Serum Institute.
India has already supplied 500,000 of a planned two million doses to Canada, with another one million still slated for arrival in mid-April, followed by a final shipment a month or so later.
Health Canada said Thursday it has updated the product label for the AstraZeneca vaccine to warn about blood clotting. Supriya Sharma, chief medical adviser for the federal department, said three cases of blood clotting have been reported out of 300,000 Canadians who have received at least one dose, but none appeared to be linked to the vaccine.
Dr. Sharma said she agrees with European health authorities that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh any potential risks, and that all four vaccines approved for use in Canada are considered safe.
Canada’s overall infection rate since the pandemic began a year ago is nearing the one-million mark. To date, the virus has killed 22,759 people across the country.
Health officials in New Brunswick are imposing circuit-breaker measures in an effort to contain an outbreak of the infection in the province’s northwest.
“We’re quite concerned because it is the variant,” said Jennifer Russell, Chief Medical Officer of Health. “We have to pull out all the stops to get things under control.”
The province reported 30 new cases of COVID-19 for a total of 89 active cases.
In Nova Scotia, there were four additional cases, including two related to travel, for a total of 25.
Ontario reported another 2,380 cases and 17 deaths, but officials said that number was inflated because of a data catchup.
Quebec reported 945 cases and four more deaths, while Manitoba reported 111 cases and one death. Saskatchewan had 168 new cases and two deaths.
In Alberta, health officials reported 764 cases and three deaths. Twenty-one per cent of active cases were variants of concern.
British Columbia officials said they have seen an increase in cases among people who are 19 to 39 in the past six weeks even as COVID-19 cases decrease in people over 80.
Long-term care residents in British Columbia will soon be allowed more than one visitor and will be able to give their loved ones a hug after more than a year of strict restrictions.
Under questioning from the Conservatives' Michelle Rempel Garner in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he'll press top European leaders to make sure Canada isn't affected by tougher export controls on COVID-19 vaccines. Rempel Garner sought an absolute guarantee that no doses would be held back.
The Canadian Press
With files from Kevin Bissett in Fredericton and Laura Dhillon Kane in Vancouver.
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