איטערסאנט צו זעהן די אוטקאם דערפון
Quebec Mixing Doses to Fully Vaccinate Vulnerable
Facing vaccine supply shortage, Quebec will give vulnerable residents a second dose that doesn’t match the first — without evidence to safety and efficacy for such a move. “I would have preferred to have received the Moderna vaccine, which was the first dose I received, but I’ll take the Pfizer one. It’s almost the same,” said Jonathan Marchand, a 44-year-old disability rights activist and resident of a long-term care home north of Quebec City, who will get his second shot Friday. Quebec’s director of public health, Dr. Horacio Arruda, said Thursday that there are accounts of people developing even stronger immunity to the novel coronavirus when doses are mixed. And although protocol is to give the same vaccine, Arruda said, but “if there is no available Pfizer and you have Moderna, I think the recommendation will be that you can change it.” The province, which was the first jurisdiction to move in delaying second doses — now a Canada-wide practise, aims to have all long-term care residents fully vaccinated by May 8 — extending the time between first and second doses to about 130 days from the original goal of 112 days. A Canadian study published earlier this week suggests delaying a second dose could improve the effectiveness of vaccine rollouts, but researchers were working with a timeframe of 9-15 weeks, or 63-105 days, between do
ses.Facing vaccine supply shortage, Quebec will give vulnerable residents a second dose that doesn’t match the first — without evidence to safety and efficacy for such a move. “I would have preferred to have received the Moderna vaccine, which was the first dose I received, but I’ll take the Pfizer one. It’s almost the same,” said Jonathan Marchand, a 44-year-old disability rights activist and resident of a long-term care home north of Quebec City, who will get his second shot Friday. Quebec’s director of public health, Dr. Horacio Arruda, said Thursday that there are accounts of people developing even stronger immunity to the novel coronavirus when doses are mixed. And although protocol is to give the same vaccine, Arruda said, but “if there is no available Pfizer and you have Moderna, I think the recommendation will be that you can change it.” The province, which was the first jurisdiction to move in delaying second doses — now a Canada-wide practise, aims to have all long-term care residents fully vaccinated by May 8 — extending the time between first and second doses to about 130 days from the original goal of 112 days. A Canadian study published earlier this week suggests delaying a second dose could improve the effectiveness of vaccine rollouts, but researchers were working with a timeframe of 9-15 weeks, or 63-105 days, between do