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Ontario to get new AstraZeneca shipment, reserve doses for second shots

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TORONTO — Ontario says it'll sit on 254,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine arriving next week – and about 50,000 more it has in stock - until it decides when and if to offer second doses of the shot. 

The province has stopped giving first doses of AstraZeneca due to concerns over an increased risk of a rare blood clotting syndrome associated with the COVID-19 vaccine. It acknowledged Wednesday that some of its AstraZeneca shots could expire while it reviews what to do about second doses. 

"We don't expect that there will be any, or perhaps just a few doses, that may expire," Health Minister Christine Elliott said. "However, this is out of an abundance of caution, because the safety and well-being of the people of Ontario has to be our top priority."

Elliott said the province will reserve the incoming quarter-million doses for second shots but is still determining when and if it will give those out. Ontario is also reviewing the possibility of using a different vaccine for the second dose, she said.

"Our chief medical officer of health has advised that we don't proceed with any further administration of AstraZeneca doses," Elliott said. "At this moment, we will hold on to them."

The province's pause on using AstraZeneca for first doses came on Tuesday as it reported an increase in the risk of the extremely rare clotting condition linked to the shot, pegging it at one in 60,000 people.

There have been at least eight cases in Ontario of the rare clotting syndrome out of more than 901,800 AstraZeneca doses given in the province. None of the Ontario cases have been fatal. 

Elliott, who received a first dose of the AstraZeneca shot herself, moved to reassure people who got that vaccine that they had made the right decision to get immunized. 

"Those of you who received your first dose of AstraZeneca did the right thing to protect yourself and your loved ones, and communities," she said. "Vaccines remain our best defense against this virus, and our way out of this pandemic."

On Tuesday, Ontario's chief medical officer of health said that in recent days, the province has noticed an increased rate of vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT), which has been linked to the shot.

Dr. David Williams said Ontario made the decision, in part, because of an "increased and reliable" supply of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines and a continued downward trend in COVID-19 cases.

Williams said he will determining next steps for use of the AstraZeneca shot in consultation with Public Health Ontario, Ontario's Science Advisory Table and the federal government.

"We are reviewing the data to consider options for the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for second doses and more broadly moving forward," he said Tuesday. 

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, who also received the AstraZeneca shot, said the province needs to begin planning how it might use the doses it expects to receive to avoid slowing down Ontario's vaccine effort.

"At the very least, the Minister of Health and the government should be planning for a green light ... to get those shots into people's arms," she said.

Liberal House Leader John Fraser said the province should assume it will resume use of the AstraZeneca shot, and plan accordingly to have the shots where they will be needed to avoid waste.

"What they need to be prepared for is to allocate those vaccines very quickly when they get that advice," he said. "Just be prepared, be ready to execute quickly."

Ontario's vaccine effort had been criticized initially for a slow and bumpy start. The rollout has ramped up in recent weeks and the government said Wednesday that half of the province's adults have now received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

It said the rate is slightly higher in hot spot communities - 54 per cent - as it allocates half of its total vaccine shipments to those areas until the end of this week.

The province also said Wednesday it is developing a plan to vaccinate children aged 12 to 17 starting in June and expects to share more details in the coming weeks.

Ontario reported 2,320 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday and 32 more deaths from the virus. The data is based on 45,681 tests.

The province said there are currently 1,673 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Ontario. Of those patients, 776 are in intensive care and 559 are on ventilators. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2021.

Shawn Jeffords, The Canadian Press


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