Ontario to get new AstraZeneca shipment, reserve doses for second shots

TORONTO — Ontario says it’ll sit on 254,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine arriving next week – and about 50,000 more it has in stock – until it decides when and if to offer second doses of the shot. 

The province has stopped giving first doses of AstraZeneca due to concerns over an increased risk of a rare blood clotting syndrome associated with the COVID-19 vaccine. It acknowledged Wednesday that some of its AstraZeneca shots could expire while it reviews what to do about second doses. 

“We don’t expect that there will be any, or perhaps just a few doses, that may expire,” Health Minister Christine Elliott said. “However, this is out of an abundance of caution, because the safety and well-being of the people of Ontario has to be our top priority.”

Elliott said the province will reserve the incoming quarter-million doses for second shots but is still determining when it will give those out. Ontario is also reviewing the possibility of using a different vaccine for the second dose, she said.

The province’s pause on using AstraZeneca for first doses came as it reported an increase in the risk of the extremely rare clotting condition linked to the shot, pegging it at one in 60,000 people.

There have been at least eight cases in Ontario of the rare blood clotting syndrome out of more than 901,800 AstraZeneca doses given in the province. None of the Ontario cases have been fatal. 

Elliott moved to reassure people who have received the dose of the vaccine that they had made the right decision to get immunized. 

“Those of you who received your first dose of AstraZeneca did the right thing to protect yourself and your loved ones, and communities,” she said. “Vaccines remain our best defense against this virus, and our way out of this pandemic.”

On Tuesday, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health said that in recent days, the province has noticed an increased rate of vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT), which has been linked to the shot.

Dr. David Williams said Ontario made the decision, in part, because of an “increased and reliable” supply of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines and a continued downward trend in COVID-19 cases.

The province also said Wednesday it is developing a plan to vaccinate children aged 12 to 17 starting in June.

Ontario said half of the province’s adults have now received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

It said the rate is slightly higher in hot spot communities – 54 per cent – as it allocates half of its total vaccine shipments to those areas.

Ontario reported 2,320 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday and 32 more deaths from the virus. The data is based on 45,681 tests.

The province said there are currently 1,673 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Ontario. Of those patients, 776 are in intensive care and 559 are on ventilators. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2021.

Shawn Jeffords, The Canadian Press