Considered one of the few ways to finally bring the pandemic under control, the push to roll out a fully tested vaccine is well underway.
This week, the U.K. approved the world’s first such COVID-19 vaccine. Canada is expected to make its decision on approval for the same Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine within weeks.
With the prospect of fully-tested vaccine doses looming ever larger, the spotlight has now shifted to issues of distribution, bringing to the fore questions of who should get a vaccine first; how shipments will travel to all regions of the country; and how governments can resassure the public about the safety of any vaccine.
From what the British news means for Canadians, to why experts say seniors should be first to be vaccinated, to Facebook’s crackdown on misinformation — here are the big stories from this past week.
The first COVID-19 vaccine is approved in Britain
On a day that is not-unfairly being heralded as “historic,” the United Kingdom officially approved the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine for use in the country this week.
That means their scientists finished reviewing the hundreds of thousands of pages of data on its safety and effectiveness generated from human testing, and officially greenlit it for use in their country. Officials say immunization will begin there next week.
This doesn’t mean anything for Canada in the short term, as each country must make its own the decision on whether to approve a vaccine for its citizen people. Federal scientists here aren’t quite finished their review of the evidence, but say a decision could be coming as early as next week.
But Dr. Earl Brown, a former member of Canada’s H1N1 vaccine task group, says that while each country’s regulator will do its own analysis, the fact that one has now reached a positive conclusion bodes well.
“They’re all looking at the same set of data,” says Brown, who is also a virologist at the University of Ottawa.
“So it will actually take the pressure off some, because when you aren’t the first one, you are the second one; that’s always reassuring.”
Here in Canada, officials say they’re continuing to work toward distribution as early as January, with first doses going to the most vulnerable.
Canadian seniors may be front of the line
Long-term care residents, workers and the elderly should be first in line for vaccination jabs, according to updated advice from Canada’s independent advisory panel.
The National Advisory Council on Immunization (NaCI) provided for immunization prioritization in early November, and has since narrowed down its advice. Its current list is based on the general idea that vaccines will be in short supply at first. Federal officials have said they hope to have enough for three million people in Canada by the end of March.
Who should be first continues to be a hot topic. While NaCI will provide guidelines, the final decision will be up to the provinces and territories, the leaders of many of which have said they intend to focus on the most vulnerable.
Most experts include health-care workers in that category, as well as people who work in essential services, those who have conditions that put them at high risk, or live in situations where infection would have outsized consequences, including First Nations.
However, these guidelines have not been without controversy.
In Manitoba, Premier Brian Pallister — who also went viral for his to obey health measures this week — drew fire for saying he wanted extra vaccines for his province because sending doses to First Nations communities first would “punish” non-Indigenous people.
“They have to step up and protect our Indigenous communities first … but not punish everyone else who lives in the same jurisdiction as Indigenous folks by shortchanging them on their share of vaccines,” he said, according to .
Proof of vaccination
Americans who receive a COVID-19 vaccine will get a card to prove it, their government said this week.
“When we sent out the ancillary kits, which have needles and syringes, we’ve included paper cards to be filled out and … given to the individuals, reminding them of their next vaccine due date,” quoted Army Gen. Gustave Perna, Operation Warp Speed’s chief operating officer, as saying at a briefing Wednesday.
A sample of the card shows places to write which vaccine a person received and when, as well as who administered it.
The cards will also serve as an important reminder, because the vaccines expected to roll out first in the new year — those made by Pfizer and Moderna — are two-dose regimes. In order for them to work, people will have to get both doses, spaced several weeks apart. You can’t mix and match, either, so it’ll be critical that people stick with the same company for both doses.
Presidential show of support
Many vaccine experts have long pointed out that a vaccine is only as good as the number of people who take it.
In the U.S., the shot may get a high-profile boost. According to , former American presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton are all saying that, when the time comes, they’ll roll up their sleeves on camera in a show of support for the vaccine’s safety.
It was Bush who reportedly got the ball rolling, according to his chief of staff, who said the 43rd president had reached out to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Instittue of Allergy and Infectious Disease and the main face of the American coronavirus response, and asked how he could help get the word out.
“When the time is right, he wants to do what he can to help encourage his fellow citizens to get vaccinated,” Freddy Ford told CNN.
“First, the vaccines need to be deemed safe and administered to the priority populations. Then, president Bush will get in line for his, and will gladly do so on camera.”
Facebook cracks down on misinformation
Following in YouTube’s footsteps, Facebook said this week that it is cracking down on posts that spread misinformation about vaccines.
“Given the recent news that COVID-19 vaccines will soon be rolling out around the world, over the coming weeks we will start removing false claims about these vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts on Facebook and Instagram,” the social media behemoth said in a Thursday.
Examples of false claims? Incorrect statements about the vaccines’ safety, efficacy or side effects; claims that the vaccines contain microchips or anything that isn’t on the ingredient list; and conspiracy theories about why the vaccines were made, according the post.
The move expands its existing attempts to stamp down misinformation about the coronavirus that could lead to “imminent physical harm.”
The company notes it won’t be able to start enforcement right away, but will continue to update what counts as misinformation as more information about vaccines become available.
Alex Boyd is a Calgary-based reporter for the Star. Follow her on Twitter:
