There’s been a flurry of news this week surrounding the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine here in town and across all Ontario and even Canada. Are more doses coming? How come I can’t get one anymore? Is it safe? When (or will) I get a second dose?
To get some answers, Oakville News sat down with Richard Price, longtime owner and pharmacist of The Medical Shoppe in downtown Oakville. He’s answered the most common questions about the headlines that have come out this week about the vaccines.
All of this began two days ago when Dr. David Williams, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, said the province made the decision to stop giving first doses of AstraZeneca due to a few cases of a rare blood clotting syndrome called Vaccine-Induced Immune Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia (VITT) that’s very likely linked to this particular vaccine.
According to the Ontario health ministry, just over than 850,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been administered as of May 8, 2021.
What our interview with Richard Price revealed good and bad news: he gave several reassurances in the safety of all COVID-19 vaccines, along with the reality that even pharmacists aren’t getting a lot more information than the general public. Here’s our full interview below…
Q: First, what are the chances of getting a blood clot from an AstraZeneca vaccine?
"From the information I have [from the province of Ontario]," said Price, "the odds look to be 1.7 in 100,000 from those that had the first dose. But it looks to be 1 per one million on those people getting a second dose."
Q: Should people who got one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine be worried? Are there any serious concerns?
"No. Considering the numbers, there’s not that high of a risk. There’s a lot more things we do in pharmacy that have much higher risk than that."
"The period of people who are getting blood clots are usually within the first 20 days of having received the vaccine, so if it hasn’t happened already or by the 20 day mark then there’s even less of concern of it happening to you. If it’s also caught early, it can absolutely be treated."
For people who got a first AstraZeneca dose, will they be able to get a second dose? Or will they need a second dose of a different vaccine?
"The hope is that they will be able to get the same vaccine, however at this point there is no clarity coming out of the ministry of health as to whether they are prepared to give people another dose of AstraZeneca or switch to a different type. I suspect as time goes on we will have more information on that subject."
(Side note: the province has said there's a possibility that those who previously received the vaccine might be eligible for a different product for their second dose. Dr. Williams believes the National Advisory Council on Immunization will come forward with recommendations by the end of the month.)
How are second doses assigned for someone to get a follow-up appointment once someone gets their first dose of vaccine from a pharmacy?
"The province has instituted a tracking system," he explains. "It requires everyone who provides a first dose of any COVID-19 vaccine to a patient to log into the system that that patient has received a first dose."
"The inventory management system that the province has set up would allocate a second dose to that same location where you got it initially injected for further down the road when the next dose would be due. They’re sort of pre-booking vaccines for future dates even though there’s no supply currently. They would work off future shipments."
(Thirty minutes after this interview took place, Ontario announced another 250,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine are coming to the province.)
What is the timeline the province has given you, as a pharmacist, on when second doses will be delivered?
"Other than the expectation that they can push the time [between doses] to four months, they haven’t said too much more than that. The hope was that if enough supply was available, they would move up second doses as they became available."
Why, if there is one another reason, would Ontario suspend using the AstraZeneca vaccine?
"It’s likely to be the lack of supply and a concern for health. I do think concern for health would be the primary concern why they would suspend it. Then again, information is evolving and we’ve had pauses in AstraZeneca before. Like other provinces, there’s a possibility it will happen again." (He also explained “it” meant a pause because of delayed shipments.)
For anyone still nervous to get vaccinated after seeing reports on the AstraZeneca vaccine, what reassurance can you give so people in our community get a vaccine?
"I would absolutely encouraged people to get vaccinated. The overall health of the population is dependent on at least 70% of us being vaccinated to achieve a herd immunity type situation. That will be necessary to get out of the current merry-go-round where things open and close and we shut down their lives."
Where is the best information available for people who want to learn more about vaccines, the rare AstraZeneca risks and how they can protect themselves?
"I would still say the province puts out a ton of information to keep ourselves safe. Theirs and our primary concern still is to keep people safe as we’re getting vaccinated. Even those that are fully vaccinated still need to protect themselves until we can get to point of relaxing health measures, and we’re still far away from that."
More information about Ontario's recent decision regarding the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine is available directly from the province's website.
