How countries including Canada are trying to squeeze more COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech vials
To get the extra dose from the Pfizer-BioNTech vials requires the use of a low-dead-volume syringe, which is not as common and is now in high demand.
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To get a sixth dose out, a different syringe is needed. It’s become a hot commodity
The Canadian Press ·
Posted: Jan 29, 2021 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: January 29
A pharmacist fills a low-dead-volume syringe with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination site in New York on Jan. 26. The smaller syringe is required to obtain a sixth dose from the Pfizer-BioNTech vials.(Mary Altaffer/The Associated Press)
Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine delays are longer than expected, Ottawa says
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The majority of Canadians may have to wait well into 2022 to be fully immunized against COVID-19.
In its latest report, the UK-based Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said that while rollout of the vaccine has started in developed countries, mass immunization will still take time.
Countries at the front of the queue including the UK, the US, and most countries in the EU are expected to have immunized their priority groups by the end of March, with other wealthy countries catching up by the end of this June, according to the EIU’s forecast.
“We therefore expect that global economic prospects will brighten from mid-2021,” the report states. “However, life will not be back to normal by then, as immunization programmes for the bulk of the population will continue until mid-2022.”
Major-General Danny Fortin/CPAC
Health Canada is currently reviewing a request from Pfizer that would allow an additional dose of their COVID-19 vaccine to be extracted from each vial.
Currently, each vial of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine provides five doses, but the company is asking that Health Canada change the label to allow for six doses per vial.
If that change is approved, there would be fewer individual vials sent to Canada, although the number of vaccine doses would stay the same.
Confusion ensued throughout a Thursday afternoon press conference as health officials attempted to clarify how many vaccines Canada can expect to receive.
Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
The Liberal government is expected to be pressed by opposition parties when Parliament resumes Monday on the availability of vaccines for COVID-19, the recession caused by the virus and when Ottawa intends to put forward a detailed account of federal spending in a budget.
The pandemic, which has dominated Justin Trudeau’s second mandate, has kept the government in crisis-response mode since last March. As of Sunday, the Public Health Agency said there have been 742,531 cases of COVID-19 to date in Canada and 18,974 deaths. There were 146 fatalities reported on Sunday.
With Parliament coming back after the holiday break, Mr. Trudeau’s government is expected to face questions about its handling of the crisis and the pace at which the country is receiving vaccines.
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