TORONTO: The health minister of Canada’s most populous province said Tuesday Ontario seniors won’t receive the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine since there’s limited data on its effectiveness in older populations.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said Ontario plans to follow the advice of a national panel that’s recommended against using the newly approved vaccine on people aged 65 and older. She said anyone over that age is recommended to receive either the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccine.
Canada’s regulator approved the Oxford-AstraZeneca last week for all adults including seniors, but the National Advisory Committee on Immunization said this week that the vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are preferred for seniors due to “suggested superior efficacy.”
Health authorities in France and Germany and other countries have also raised concerns that AstraZeneca didn’t test the vaccine in enough older people to prove it works for them, and indicated they would not recommend it for people over 65. Belgium has authorized it only for people 55 and under.
France said this week it will allow some people over 65 to receive the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, after initially restricting its use to younger populations because of limited data on the drug’s effectiveness. Last month, South Africa scaled back its planned rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine, opting instead to use an unlicensed shot from Johnson & Johnson for its health care workers.
The Canadian Pacific Coast province of British Columbia, meanwhile, plans to delay the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine to four months. Ontario and Alberta are also considering following the province’s lead.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, British Columbia’s provincial health officer, said the decision was “made in the context of limited supply and based on strong local and international data.
“This makes sense for us, knowing that it is a critical time right now with the limited amount of vaccines that we have in the coming weeks, to be able to provide that protection ... to everybody here,″ Henry said.
Chief science adviser Mona Nemer told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that British Columbia’s plan amounts to a “population-level experiment” and that the data provided so far by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech is based on an interval of three to four weeks between doses.
Henry said the manufacturers structured their clinical trials that way to get the vaccines to market as quickly as possible, but research in B.C., Quebec, Israel and the United Kingdom has shown that first doses are highly effective.
The B.C. Centre for Disease Control examined the effects of a single dose on long-term care residents and health-care workers and found that it reduced the risk of the virus by up to 90% within two to three weeks, Henry said.
Dr. Danuta Skowronski, a B.C. Centre for Disease Control epidemiology lead whose work underpinned the province’s plan, said Pfizer-BioNTech underestimated the efficacy of its first dose in its submissions to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Skowronski said the company included data from the first two weeks after trial participants received the shot, a time when vaccines typically aren’t effective. When she and her colleagues adjusted the data, they found it was 92% effective, similar to the Moderna vaccine.
Canada started vaccinating health care workers and the elderly in long-term homes in December but there’s been a shortage of vaccines until now. Many Canadians are not expected to be vaccinated for months. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hopes to vaccinate all Canadians who are eligible by the end of summer.
AP Newsroom
Wed Mar 03 2021
Canada's regulator approved the Oxford-AstraZeneca last week for all adults including seniors.
18 kecederaan, parut pada Bella bukan rekaan saksi - Hakim
Hakim berkata, perkara itu dibuktikan oleh saksi-saksi perubatan bahawa kecederaan dialami Bella, bukan kemalangan atau perbuatan mangsa sendiri.
Letusan terakhir 22 tahun lalu
Semua penduduk dinasihatkan untuk memakai pelitup muka kerana debu dan asap dari letusan gunung berapi mampu mengganggu saluran pernafasan.
UNRWA bimbang berlaku penyebaran penyakit di Gaza
Agensi Bantuan dan Kerja Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu bagi Pelarian Palestin (UNRWA) menyatakan wujud kebimbangan penyebaran penyakit akibat serangan tanpa henti rejim Zionis di Gaza.
Ops Rentap Trio tumpas geng ragut tumpu lokasi pelancongan
Lima rakan yang menjadi dalang 45 kes samun, ragut dan curi motosikal ditahan melalui beberapa serbuan.
Bella masih trauma dianiaya, diabai Siti Bainun - Peguam
Bella masih trauma dianiaya, diabai Siti Bainun - Peguam
'Game changer' akan diumum dalam masa terdekat - KDN
Saifuddin menambah masih banyak ruang yang boleh ditambah baik di pintu-pintu masuk negara khususnya untuk menerima kedatangan para pelancong.
JAKIM buka talian khas terima aduan hina Islam
Jabatan Kemajuan Islam (JAKIM) telah mewujudkan talian khas 24 jam sebagai platform untuk menyalurkan aduan berkaitan isu penghinaan terhadap agama Islam termasuk yang dicetuskan menerusi laman media sosial.
KPM giat atasi isu dibangkitkan laporan bank dunia
Kementerian Pendidikan telah mengambil beberapa langkah untuk mereformasi sistem pendidikan negara, lebih awal daripada laporan Bank Dunia yang menekankan. kekurangannya.
[TERKINI] Tengku Zafrul gagal failkan afidavit kes pengampunan Najib
Menteri Pelaburan, Perdagangan dan Industri, Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz gagal untuk memfailkan afidavit berhubung Titah Adendum berhubung kes pengampunan Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
Polis tahan lapan aktif ragut, samun sasar kawasan tumpuan pelancong
Lapan individu ditahan kerana disyaki terlibat dalam 45 kes melibatkan ragut, samun dan curi motosikal di sekitar ibu negara, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor dan Melaka.
Operasi darat Israel di Rafah akan cetus bencana kemanusiaan - WHO
Netanyahu berikrar pada Selasa, untuk menyerang Rafah, walaupun terdapat laporan kemungkinan perjanjian gencatan senjata dengan Hamas.
WHO perbaharui gesaan untuk lindungi hospital Gaza
Ketua Pengarah WHO Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, memperbaharui gesaan agar memberikan perlindungan kepada semua hospital di Semenanjung Gaza.
Ketua WHO gesa perlindungan kemudahan penjagaan kesihatan semasa konflik
Ghebreyesus berkata kerosakan kemudahan penjagaan kesihatan dan kakitangan WHO telah menjadi norma, seperti yang dilihat di Gaza, Sudan dan Ethiopia.
Hospital Al-Shifa umpama cangkerang kosong dengan pusara manusia - WHO
Pertubuhan Kesihatan Sedunia (WHO) berkata kemusnahan Hospital Al-Shifa menjadikannya umpama sebuah cangkerang kosong dengan pusara manusia susulan kepungan dan serangan Israel.
Malaysia laksana program pendidikan kesihatan menyeluruh, pupuk amalan berlandaskan pencegahan
Malaysia melaksanakan program pendidikan kesihatan yang menyeluruh untuk memupuk amalan penjagaan kesihatan berlandaskan pencegahan serta kesedaran kepentingan mendapatkan rawatan perubatan awal.
9,000 pesakit memerlukan pemindahan kecemasan dari Gaza
Hanya 10 hospital yang berfungsi secara minimum di seluruh Gaza dan beribu-ribu pesakit gagal mendapat penjagaan kesihatan.
Kebuluran di Gaza dijangka tidak dapat dielakkan - WHO
Pertubuhan Kesihatan Sedunia (WHO) berkata analisis terkini daripada Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) mencerminkan keadaan yang meruncing dihadapi penduduk Gaza.
Satu daripada lapan orang kini hidup dengan obesiti - WHO
Obesiti dalam kalangan orang dewasa telah meningkat lebih daripada dua kali ganda sejak 1990.
“Gaza jadi zon maut” - Ketua WHO
Situasi kesihatan dan kemanusiaan yang "tidak berperikemanusiaan" kini berlaku di seluruh Gaza dengan keadaan terus merosot.
Gaza: WHO bantu keluarkan 14 pesakit dari Hospital Nasser
WHO membantu memindahkan 14 pesakit dari Hospital Nasser di bandar Khan Younis yang dikepung tentera Israel.