York Region Public Health is making changes to its vaccine rollout plans after the provincial government's announcement that residents aged 75 years and older, people with specific health conditions and some caregivers will start getting their shots by April and those aged 60 and over by May.
To make that possible, second doses of the vaccine could be pushed back as much as four months to free up more vaccines, a move recommended by Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization.
"By pushing out the second dose vaccination up to four months after the first dose, we will focus on using the vaccine supply arriving in the weeks to come to vaccinate as many residents with their first dose as possible," said York Region's director of corporate communications Patrick Casey,
"We greatly welcome any increases in vaccine supply as we work diligently with all our partners to ensure vaccines do not remain in freezers."
Ontario joined other provinces in readjusting their vaccine targets Friday following a flurry of promising developments, including two additions to Canada's vaccine portfolio and the expert panel's endorsement of a strategy to delay the second vaccine dose and at least partially inoculate as many people as quickly as possible.
Retired general Rick Hillier, the head of the province's vaccine task force, said it's likely all adults could receive the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by June 20.
The provincial government has told York Region it will receive approximately 9,300 doses of the Pfizer vaccine every week.
The announcement on Friday also indicated that York and other regions will get additional doses for use in hotspot neighbourhoods between April and June, Casey said.
At a Town of Newmarket information session Friday, York Region's chief of COVID-19 vaccine operations, Katarina Garpenfeldt, was asked to confirm that seniors would have to wait up to four months to get their second dose of the vaccine.
"We are following the guidelines from the Ministry of Health in terms of timelines. So dependant on that, that's how we are rolling out the vaccine as well," said Garpenfeldt.
"If we change the length in between the doses, it frees up vaccine for first doses. So as we go through this process, we are trying to stay very nimble and flexible."
