Manitobans who want first dose to get it this spring

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This article was published 06/03/2021 (1678 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

All adults in Manitoba who want a COVID-19 vaccine are expected to be inoculated this spring.

Everyone who wants a first dose should be able to get it by mid-May at the earliest, and the end of June at the latest, based on supply and the task force’s current plans, provincial officials announced Friday.

Dr. Joss Reimer, medical lead of the provincial task force, and Dr. Marcia Anderson, public health lead of the First Nations Pandemic Response Co-ordination Team, held a news conference Friday. They announced a stepped-up vaccine rollout based on the province’s decision to delay second doses by as many as four months.

Task force officials promised a full-scale vaccine rollout to Indigenous communities, starting later this month, and upcoming vaccine appointments at doctors’ offices and pharmacies for Manitobans 50 to 64 who have serious health conditions. Soon, pharmacies and physicians will be expected to deliver Manitoba’s supply of fridge-stable vaccines.

The new timeline was issued after a fourth COVID-19 vaccine was approved for use in Canada.

“The more vaccines that are approved, the more likely that that June date becomes, and if multiple vaccines continue to be approved, we might even be able to move it up earlier than that for the first dose,” Reimer said Friday.

“We also know that we need to plan to provide the second dose… so even once we’ve got that first dose in, our work is not done.”

Only once all Manitobans are offered a first dose will the province resume booking appointments for second doses.

The province expects 70 per cent of eligible people will get the vaccine.

Vaccine clinics are expected to be set up in First Nations communities in the middle of this month. They’ll be open to all residents over 18 so vaccination teams don’t have to make multiple trips to remote locations to immunize different age groups. They expect to be able to offer a first dose of the Moderna vaccine to all residents of 63 First Nations, and 47 nearby communities that share health centres and nursing stations, by mid-May.

They’ll have 30 days to distribute the Moderna vaccine in each community. Communities at high risk of flooding, fires or loss of winter-road access will be prioritized, Anderson said. She said more than 9,000 First Nations residents had been vaccinated as of Friday. Data on vaccine uptake rates in First Nations was not available.

Meanwhile, the province changed its booking process Friday to set up only single-shot appointments. Previously, an appointment for a second dose had to be booked within three weeks of the first.

Reimer announced Wednesday Manitoba would follow advice from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization, which recommended delaying second doses beyond the manufacturer’s guidelines, since the vaccines have been found to be effective for even one dose.

The second dose is still “really critical” for prolonged immunity against COVID-19, Reimer said, but the province is acting on recommendations that the second doses can be delayed for a few months. They want as many people to get the first dose as soon as possible. Reimer said the team is confident in data that shows a first dose of the vaccine provides 70 to 80 per cent protection, and that immunity can be boosted even further when the second dose is delayed.

“The second dose becomes particularly important when we’re thinking longer term, and the last thing that we want is to have the same experience in the fall that we had this fall, where we start to see cases go up and we have to shut down businesses and tell people to stay home,” Reimer said. “We absolutely don’t want to do that again, so that second dose for that prolonged immunity is really critical.”

The province expanded vaccine eligibility again Friday to those 87 and older, and for First Nations residents 67 and up. Manitobans 80 and older could be eligible as early as next week, Reimer said.

A shipment of 18,000 AstraZeneca vaccines is headed to Manitoba on Monday for doctors and pharmacists to administer to their clients, but they don’t yet know how much supply they’ll each get or when they can start taking appointments.

The task force drafted a list of serious health conditions that must get priority. Manitobans age 50 to 64 who have those health conditions will be the first to book an appointment at their doctor’s office or pharmacy, Reimer said Friday.

The list of eligible health conditions hasn’t been released, but is expected to include people on dialysis and those with liver failure.

Delaying the second dose moved up Manitoba’s supply timelines, said Johanu Botha, co-lead of the vaccine task force. The province still needs to ramp up its vaccine delivery to vaccinate more than 20,000 people per day to meet these timelines. Botha said depending on supply of the vaccines, all eligible Manitobans could be vaccinated by May 18, or in a “non-ideal” situation, end of June.

“We’re confident we can do this if the supply arrives more consistently,” he said.

The province doesn’t yet know how many doses it can expect to receive of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine that Health Canada approved Friday.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca