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'I'm OK with the risk': 60,000 York Region residents await decision on AstraZeneca vaccine

'Why (is the province) not offering the option to those of us who are OK with the risk?” says Newmarket resident Al Wolske who doesn't want to mix his COVID-19 vaccine doses
2021-04-18 AstraZeneca
File photo/Village Media

Newmarket resident Al Wolske wants his second dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

“Why (is the province) not offering the option to those of us who are OK with the risk?” he questions.

“Why are (they) withholding it and not giving it to those of us who have had no problems with our first dose?”

He’s frustrated with what he calls the province’s “knee jerk” decision on Tuesday to pause its rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine because of its link to cases of a rare blood clotting condition called Vaccine-Induced Immune Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia (VITT).

In Canada, the VITT rate from the two adenovirus vector COVID-19 vaccines, AstraZeneca and COVISHIELD, is about one per 100,000 doses.

Wolske is one of about 60,000 York Region residents who received a first dose of AstraZeneca, according to the region’s medical officer of health, Dr. Karim Kurji.

More than 651,000 doses of AstraZeneca have been administered in Ontario, and more than 202,800 doses of the COVISHIELD vaccine.

Health Minister and Newmarket-Aurora MPP Christine Elliott said earlier this week that the province does not have an adequate supply of AstraZeneca confirmed — it currently has about 50,000 doses — to provide second dose shots to those who will soon be eligible.

Kurji told regional council yesterday that vaccines will expire during the pause.

“I would be very surprised if there wasn’t some wastage,” he said.

In York Region, for instance, the public health unit attempted to return to the province a supply of about 4,000 doses of AstraZeneca that were not being used by physicians, he said.  

“We’ve been asked to hold onto them, and I know a good portion of them expire at the end of May,” Kurji said.

The province is awaiting advice from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) and Health Canada if a second dose of mRNA vaccines Pfizer and Moderna can be safely administered to individuals who received one dose of AstraZeneca, he added. 

“It could go either way. It could actually be one where they give a choice to the individual, and the choice might be that you could have the AstraZeneca, if you so please, and give them the facts around it,” Kurji explained.

He said U.K. studies indicate the incidence of VITT is about one in a million for second doses, much less than the incidence rate of about one in 100,000 or 125,000 with first doses.

The other choice might be to receive the Pfizer or Moderna as the second dose, he said.

“There are people who think that that would actually confer greater benefits to the individual in terms of the protectiveness. However, the earliest studies that have come out from the U.K. suggest that there are greater side effects from that sort of approach, but these side effects may not necessarily be serious.”

Either way, York Region must await the province’s direction, Kurji told council.

He added that the majority of residents’ second doses aren’t due until July, so “we have some time.”

In the meantime, residents like Wolske who don’t want to mix vaccines remain concerned about that possibility.

“I have received my first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine and would like to get the second dose of the same,” he wrote to Newmarket-Aurora MPP Elliott. “By offering the AstraZeneca vaccine to those who have had a first dose of it, you can free up more of the other vaccines for other people, mainly women, who seem to have a larger problem with AZ.”

“Would you please ask (Premier) Doug Ford to stop these knee-jerk reactions and think for a change? The vaccine is approved and I've had one shot already, why can't I choose to have a second shot of the same?” he wrote.

“You seem to be able to talk some common sense to Doug Ford, now is the time to do that again.”

Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. David Williams, said the decision to pause AstraZeneca was also influenced by the increased and more reliable supply of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

“We maintain that those who received their first dose of AstraZeneca did absolutely the right thing to prevent illness and to protect their families, loved ones, and communities. Those who have had one dose of AstraZeneca can expect further instructions soon from the province," Williams said at the news conference.

“We hope to have those answers in a few weeks,” he said. 


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Debora Kelly

About the Author: Debora Kelly

Debora Kelly is NewmarketToday's editor. She is an award-winning journalist and communications professional who is passionate about building strong communities through engagement, advocacy and partnership.
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