THUNDER BAY – Health Minister Patty Hajdu says there will likely be three tiers of priority if and when a COVID-19 vaccine is made available to the Canadian public.
Hajdu was reacting to news that Pfizer’s vaccine trials show it looks to be up to 90 per cent effective, which could be a game-changer in the world’s fight against the virus.
The Thunder Bay-Superior North MP said the first tier to receive the two-dose vaccine would likely be the country’s most vulnerable.
The country has secured the rights to 20 million doses of the vaccine from Pfizer, with an option to buy more.
It would mean about 10 million people could be vaccinated once the vaccine is ready to roll out, something company officials said will take at least several months to accomplish.
Hadju said they’re working out the details of who gets it first.
“There’s a whole process under way right now to plan the deployment of those vaccines with three primary goals. One to protect the most vulnerable, two to protect people who are working in situations where they’re exposed, so you can imagine health-care workers and personal support workers, and three in areas where we think it will have the most impact to slow down the spread of the disease,” Hajdu said.
The last category won’t necessarily be based on geography, but potentially on groups of people where it will do the most good.
“The advice from the national advisory committee is really about what groups of people should be first in line. It’s not really surprising. I think the advice will evolve as we know more about which vaccine is suitable for which population,” Hajdu said.
“But it is for vulnerable people who live in long-term care homes or other group settings, people who are working on the front line in a setting where there is a higher risk of contracting COVID-19, and also other kinds of settings where there is an increased spread of COVID-19.”
Hajdu said Northwestern Ontario will likely receive an allotment of vaccine, appropriate to those priority groups.
Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP Marcus Powlowski greeted the vaccine news with enthusiasm. An emergency department physician who has fought for loosen restrictions around challenge trials in the effort to come up with a successful vaccine, Powlowski said it’s great news in the fight against COVID-19.
“I think 90 per cent is fantastic. I know, for example, with measles, it’s 95 per cent effective and to get herd immunity with measles you need to have about 95 per cent effective vaccine. Ninety per cent is pretty good. I was really worried they were going to get a vaccine that was like 60 per cent effective, 70 per cent effective,” Powlowski said.
