Few doses of AstraZeneca were wasted in B.C. after federal health experts changed their advice on the use of the COVID-19 vaccine, causing demand to fall, Health Minister Adrian Dix said.
“We don’t have the exact number yet,” Dix said Tuesday at a news conference in Richmond. Reports from pharmacies have not been finalized. “I think it’s a relatively small amount.”
In June, the National Committee on Immunization advised its preferred choice for COVID vaccines was the mRNA type — Pfizer and Moderna — even for people who received AstraZeneca, a viral-vector vaccine, as a first shot. Use of AstraZeneca had been paused for some age groups pending further study on rare but potentially fatal vaccine-induced blood clots.
Despite provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry saying that AstraZeneca was safe and highly effective, demand for vaccine, which is being delivered through pharmacies, plummeted and some doses expired.
Vikram Bawa, owner of Fort Royal Pharmacy, said his store locations in Oak Bay and on Hillside Avenue continue to deliver AstraZeneca shots, but with decreasing demand he simply groups appointments to ensure he doesn’t waste doses.
“Today we did nine and on Saturday we did 29,” he said. “We still have doses and we’re still booking for the weekend.”
Of 1,800 to 2,000 doses received, Bawa said a negligible amount couldn’t be used.
“We are making sure we don’t waste any,” he said. “I wouldn’t say none have been wasted, but maybe five to seven” doses.
Dix said most of the AstraZeneca the province has on hand now doesn’t expire until August.
“It would be our absolute expectation that that AstraZeneca, that vaccine, if it’s not to be used here, be returned and be provided in other jurisdictions where it can,” he said.
Canada has said it will donate nearly 18 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to poorer countries while keeping millions of doses of mRNA vaccines for potential boosters.
Canada had secured 20 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine but demand has dropped drastically as the supply of the mRNA vaccines produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna has increased.
On Tuesday, 79.1 per cent of all eligible people age 12 and older in B.C. had received their first shot of COVID-19 vaccine, while 46 per cent had received their second.
B.C. reported 33 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total active cases to 639. Sixty-six people were in hospital, including 14 in intensive care.
Three new people were reported to have tested postitive for COVID-19 in Island Health, for a total of 23 active cases.
There were no new deaths reported in B.C. on Tuesday.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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