Hours after the Ontario government announced the AstraZeneca COVID-19 would be available in pharmacies for those 40 years of age and older beginning Tuesday (April 20), Premier Doug Ford’s office issued a statement on Monday afternoon warning of delays to two shipments of the vaccine originally expected from the federal government later this month and next.
“As we look to expand our rollout of AstraZeneca to younger age groups and into more pharmacies, any delays to vaccine shipments would be devastating for Ontario right now as we battle the third wave of this pandemic,” the statement reads, noting the Premier was just notified of the delays.
“While we seek to confirm this information, the Premier is redoubling his efforts to secure more vaccines by directly reaching out to our international allies for any available supply,” the statement reads, noting that the Premier has already spoken with Canada’s ambassador to Denmark and the Consulate General of the United States.
According to the statement, provincial officials have also reached out to Norway’s ambassador, and the Premier will be speaking to the EU ambassador to Canada as well as the High Commissioner of India on Monday to ask for any extra AstraZeneca vaccines.
“The Premier will continue exhausting every option available to secure more vaccines sooner so that we can put this pandemic behind us once and for all,” the statement reads.
Previously the AstraZeneca vaccine was only available to those aged 55 and older, based on a recommendation from Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization. The recommendation followed reports from Europe of rare cases of blood clots, associated with low levels of blood platelets, developing mainly in women under the age of 55 within two weeks of receiving the vaccine. However, last week Health Canada issued an advisory approving the use of the vaccine without restrictions.
The news of the AstraZeneca shipment delays comes three days after vaccine manufacturer Moderna said it would be slashing and delaying a shipment of its vaccine to Canada because of production issues at its manufacturing facilities in Europe. Instead of the original shipment of 1.2 million doses set to arrive this week, Moderna will now be shipping 650,000 doses in late April or early May.
