Canada is Expected to Receive Nearly 9 Doses of COVID Vaccines per Capita. Here’s What You Need to Know.
JEC TORONTO — More than one year since the first COVID-19 case in Canada was reported, governments all over the world are now scrambling to order and distribute as many vaccines to those at risk, such as healthcare workers and the elderly. However, some countries were more fortunate than other with vaccine preorders (as shown in the diagram below.)
What this means for Canadians
Although the Canadian government was lucky enough to secure nearly 9 doses of the COVID 19 vaccine from more than 5 different distributors, this doesn’t mean that the average Canadian citizen will be able to receive their shot anytime soon. (Airfinity, 2020)
Many suppliers, such as Pfizer are being overloaded with the vaccine requests sent from a large amount of countries. To counteract this, researchers at Pfizer have conducted studies and found that one extra dose could be extracted out of each vial. Many have raised questions about the effectiveness of each dose, but on February 9th, Health Canada approved the extraction of 6 doses per vial. (Tasker, 2021)
“In order to extract a sixth dose reliably and consistently, a specialized syringe should be used. A low dead-volume syringe is designed to have a lower volume of liquid that stays in the hub of the syringe after the vaccine is administered. This minimizes the loss of vaccine volume per vaccination,” said Health Canada Senior Medical Adviser Dr. Supriya Sharma. (Sharma, 2021)
However, the more than 300 million vaccines secured for Canadians contains some technicalities. Many of these orders may only be fulfilled if their clinical trials show promising results. Companies like NOVAVAX and J&J’s (2021) vaccines are still in their Phase 2 and 3 trials, but are most likely to be approved for use by Health Canada in the future.
The countries who aren’t as privileged
Although wealthy counties like Canada were able to secure more than 300 million vaccines for its citizens, countries located in poorer regions of the world are not as fortunate. A group of rich nations, including Canada, the US, the UK, the EU, Japan, Switzerland, Australia, Hong Kong, Macau, New Zealand, Israel and Kuwait have hoarded 53% of potential vaccine doses. This leaves very few for the less fortunate countries. (Win, 2021)
“Rich countries have enough doses to vaccinate everyone nearly three times over, whilst poor countries don’t even have enough to even reach health workers and people at risk,” said Mohga Kamal-Yanni, an advisor for People’s Vaccine Alliance, a large group of 92 low and middle income countries fighting to secure more doses for their citizens. (Kamal-Yanni, 2021)
These countries may have to wait for years to come just to get vaccinated from COVID-19. (As shown in the diagram above)
As well, the virus is spreading exponentially faster and is becoming even more dangerous in these countries.
Shortages in PPE, drugs, and equipment means that those who require medical assistance may be heavily impacted. Although COVID-19 hasn’t impacted these regions as severely as other countries, many are predicting the rise of the second wave backed by the new variant, which could face much more severe consequences.
While major vaccine manufacturers such as AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford have pledged to reserve 64% of their doses to those in developing nations, that would only reach 18% of the world’s population by next year. (Oxfam, 2021)
Although many barriers are present while delivering COVID-19 vaccines to those in remote or poor regions, there may be hope from the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
The majority of current vaccines require two doses. The first, initial injection followed by a booster shot, usually received two weeks later. As well, these vaccines must be transported and stored in special containers so that they can be kept below freezing.
As well, some studies conducted by AstraZeneca has shown that a single dose of its vaccine could cut transmission rates of COVID by 67%. (AstraZeneca, 2021) Even though this doesn’t guarantee complete protection like the conventional two dose vaccines do, the posed strategy could significantly slow the spread of coronavirus within these poor regions.
When we can return to normal
The general public may be able to revert to normal life without the need to social distance or wear masks as more and more citizens get vaccinated.
However, those in countries who aren’t as fortunate still have a long ways to go. They may have to wait months- if not years for things to slowly cool down.
