The National Advisory Committee on Immunization came under fire last week for sending mixed messaging to Canadians, saying the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are “preferred.” The committee said that Canadians should weigh in the risks of waiting for a the mRNA vaccine instead of taking a vector-based vaccine.
Both AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines use the same viral vector technology and both vaccines have been linked to extremely rare, but serious blood clots. NACI recommended their use for people over the age of 30, but recommended that people who can wait for an mRNA vaccine, should do so.
However, people working in ‘essential’ jobs such as public transit operators, migrant workers, Amazon and Uber drivers may not be able to afford to wait around for the MRNA vaccine.
NACI’s recommendations appeared to be conflicting with what health experts have been saying for months – that Canadians should take the first vaccine that becomes available.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke to OMNI in an exclusive interview on the misinformation and confusion surrounding the Covid-19 vaccines and its safety. He emphasized the fact that 50 million vaccine doses are coming into Canada by the end of June, and a vast majority of them being mRNA vaccines.
“Every week, we receive two million Pfizer vaccines and and hundreds of thousands more Moderna vaccines.”
“We need to get vaccines to the frontline workers and the people who are most vulnerable and in hot spots. That’s what has to be the focus right now and that’s what everyone’s working on,” Prime Minister Trudeau told Sergio Mourato.
The Prime Minister added that with the influx of vaccines coming in, people need to be making appointments to get vaccinated, so they can keep themselves safe, but mostly so that Canada can reach herd immunity which will allow us to get back to normal as quickly as possible.
