In cases
when residents are at or near the end of the 112-day period, health boards are instructed to vaccinate people as soon as possible a phrase that is underlined and in bold in the document signed by public health director Dr. Horacio Arruda.
Dr. Sophie Zhang, who oversees 15 long-term care centres in Montreal, said the new directive will help provide maximum protection for patients who remain vulnerable despite having received one dose.
“I am pleased to see that the government has been swift in responding to our request that the second dose be given immediately to long-term care residents,” she said in an email. Ideally, people would receive the same vaccine for both shots, but with supply shortages and “the fact that most vaccine experts are fairly confident a mixed-dose regime will be safe and effective, I think this is the right thing to do,” she added.
COVID-19 Landing in Canada Despite Preflight Testing medscape.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from medscape.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Provinces push back vaccination plans as Pfizer s Canadian deliveries halt nationalobserver.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nationalobserver.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Winnipeg Free Press By: Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press Posted:
Last Modified: 6:35 PM CST Monday, Jan. 25, 2021
Winnipeg Free Press
The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is administered to a personal support worker at the Ottawa Hospital Tuesday December 15, 2020 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Some provinces were forced to push back vaccination for health-care workers and vulnerable seniors on Monday as deliveries from a major manufacturer ground to a temporary halt.
Canada is not due to receive any Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines this week as the company revamps its operations, and deliveries are expected to be slow for the next few weeks.
Ontario announced Monday that it was pausing COVID-19 vaccinations of long-term care staff and essential caregivers so that it can focus on giving the shots to all nursing home residents.