Maan Alhamidi

Canadian-Syrian journalist. He got MA in Journalism and working today from Ottawa. 

Children and teens across the country are now days away from being able to be vaccinated against COVID-19, after Health Canada approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for use in children 12 to 15 years this week.

The Pfizer vaccine was initially authorized for use in individuals 16 years of age and older, but Health Canada’s chief medical adviser, Dr. Supriya Sharma, said the federal department’s decision came after a thorough and independent scientific review of the evidence.

“The department determined that this vaccine is safe and effective when used in this younger age group,” she said.

Shortly after Health Canada’s announcement, Quebec’s Health Minister Christian Dubé confirmed his province would begin to offer vaccines to children aged 12 to 17 before the end of June.

In Ontario, provincial Minister of Health Christine Elliott said Wednesday that the province is strategizing how it plans to expand the vaccine rollout to include these younger age groups,. She specified that there’s no timeline yet on when they’ll receive their shots, but added that the ministry of Education was involved in discussion on the rollout.

In Alberta, the province announced that every resident aged 12 and older can make an appointment to receive their first dose of the vaccine starting Monday. Elsewhere in Canada, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and P.E.I. are also expected to offer vaccines to youth aged 12 and up later this month, or in June.

As of last Friday, more than 14 million people have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, which represents about 37% of all Canadians. According to the federal government, over 400,000 doses were administered last Friday alone.

Debates continue to surround the AstraZeneca vaccine

Last week, Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) said that AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine could be offered to individuals aged 30 years and older.

Determining vaccine eligibility remains a decision made at the provincial level. It is up to the health authorities in each individual province and territory to determine a specific timeline for vaccine eligibility.

In a divisive decision, the committee indicated that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines should be preferred over the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines, because the latter two have been linked to extremely rare though potentially life-threatening blood clots.

NACI vice-chair Shelley Deeks told a press conference last week that her team’s analysis provides a framework that can be used by provinces and territories to assess the risk-to-benefit ratio relevant to their specific circumstances.

“The public health benefit-risk analysis for the use of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine may vary between jurisdictions depending on their local COVID-19 epidemiology, their local vaccine supply and logistics and equity and acceptability considerations,” she said.

Several provinces recently revealed they’d detected cases of thrombosis, or blood clotting, in four people who had been administered AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine whose ages range between 30 and 70 years old.

British Columbia public health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the risk of developing blood clots after receiving AstraZeneca’s vaccine is the same across all age groups, while noting that the risk of contracting COVID-19 itself varies by age group.

“We know that the older you are the more likely you are to have more severe illness,” she said.

After Ontario lowered its age eligibility for AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine to 40 years, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau, received their first dose of that vaccine on Friday. Conservatives Leader Erin O’Toole received his shot and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh also received his AstraZeneca vaccine shot.

NACI’s Shelley Deeks said people should have informed consent when receiving AstraZeneca vaccines, so that they are aware of the potential risks of developing blood clots, as well as of the symptoms that may appear after being vaccinated.

“Should they choose to get this vaccine and have any of those symptoms, they should immediately follow up with a health care provider,” she said. “In addition, we notify health care practitioners of those symptoms as well because importantly, healthcare providers need to be aware that this may occur.”

The right to choose?

Canada has procured and is expecting Pfizer vaccines at a rate of almost one million doses per week through the months of May and June. The country plans to have enough vaccines to fully vaccinate the currently eligible Canadian population before fall of this year.

But NACI chair Caroline Quach has said that people have the right to choose which COVID-19 vaccine they want to get into their arms.

She said those who are eligible for AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine and who decide to refuse it will simply have to wait longer to get a dose of Pfizer or Moderna.

And yet “if someone decides not to take the AstraZeneca vaccine for some reason, that person should not be put at the end of the list,” she clarified.

Dr. Quach explained that if someone resides in an area where there is low-to-no COVID-19 transmission, and if that person has no contact with people outside of their household, then there is a possibility that they could wait for their top choice of vaccine.

“The bottom line is, like everything, a risk-benefit analysis. We do agree we want to vaccinate Canadians as quickly as possible,” she said.