Lack of urgency slows urgent vaccine rollout By: Tom Brodbeck Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Wednesday, Mar. 17, 2021

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/03/2021 (1672 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba is expected to receive enough weekly shipments of the COVID-19 vaccine from the federal government to dole out at least 6,000 doses a day beginning next week.

That doesn’t include more than 60,000 doses still on hand in the province’s freezers.

Despite that, its immunization program continues to roll out at a snail’s pace, with less than two-thirds of vaccine supply used thus far.

A week ago, Manitoba projected more than 4,000 shots/day would be given on average over the following 28 days. Since then, the daily average has been 2,565.

Some days have been well below that number; on Sunday, only 1,821 vaccine doses were administered.

The province argues most of its vaccine inventory has been allocated. It takes time (sometimes a week) to get doses into arms, including by focused immunization teams (which serve residents in congregate settings) and through pop-up clinics, officials say.

However, time is not a luxury Manitoba has right now.

A race is on to vaccinate enough high-risk people to avoid another surge in deaths and hospitalizations. With the rapid spread of more contagious variants of COVID-19 (64 combined cases of B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 in Manitoba, as of Wednesday), the urgency to ramp up vaccinations continues to intensify.

That level of urgency doesn’t appear to be reflected in the province’s immunization plan.

Manitoba has received 192,590 doses from the federal government since mid-December 2020. Of those, 124,782 have been administered (including 11,507 doses given by First Nations).

All told, 65 per cent of doses received have been administered — well-below provinces such as Saskatchewan and Alberta, which have used more than 80 per cent of their inventories.

Provincial officials say part of the reason for the peer gap is not all doses administered by First Nations, or shots given by clinics and pharmacies, are included in the total. Those number are relatively small.

First Nations doses are current as of March 11; clinics and pharmacies have only administered 1,500 shots so far.

All told, 65 per cent of doses received have been administered– well—below provinces such as Saskatchewan and Alberta, which have used more than 80 per cent of their inventories.

Johanu Botha, co-lead of Manitoba’s vaccine implementation task force, claimed Wednesday the province immediately reports when new shipments arrive, whereas it takes longer to report when shots are given. However, the province received 20,500 doses of Moderna vaccine March 12, but didn’t report that shipment on its online dashboard until March 16.

One of the reasons Manitoba has so much stock is the government decided — weeks after most provinces — to delay the required second doses. The province built up inventories to ensure it had adequate supply to provide second doses 21 to 28 days after the first, even though there was strong evidence earlier this year the second jab could wait.

That slowed the process. The province says it will take time to draw down those reserves.

Meanwhile, officials say while focused immunization teams and pop-up sites are necessary to get vaccines to people who can’t access “super sites,” they have limited capacity. Also, some inventory must be maintained to keep supply flowing through those smaller distribution lines, officials argue.

Other provinces, such as Saskatchewan and British Columbia, have found innovative ways of getting more vaccines into arms quicker, such as the use of drive-thru clinics– something that, so far, is not part of Manitoba’s plan.

However, they had no estimates when asked how much inventory those distribution lines require. They also offered no solutions on how to increase capacity through those modes of distribution, other than by getting more supply from the federal government.

Other provinces, such as Saskatchewan and British Columbia, have found innovative ways of getting more vaccines into arms quicker, such as the use of drive-thru clinics — something that, so far, is not part of Manitoba’s plan.

Every week, Manitoba continues this slow rollout is another week high-risk people can get infected with COVID-19 and suffer serious outcomes, including death.

For a province with the second-highest COVID-19 deaths per capita in the country, there doesn’t seem to be much urgency in this vaccine rollout.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca