Pressure mounts to start second doses of COVID-19 vaccine

As two-thirds of Torontonians have their first COVID-19 shots, and with the province at large not far behind, calls are growing louder for Ontario to start pushing up the timeline for second doses, especially for the most vulnerable.

“I would really hope that certainly for the seniors most at risk, we would accelerate their second doses and allow them to get it as soon as possible,” said CityNews viewer Sue, whom we have agreed to only identify by first name.

After hearing about unfilled appointments over the weekend, Sue called the provincial hotline, hoping to book her parents, who are in their 80’s, appointments for second shots.

She was told by hotline staff that they couldn’t book second doses. She accepted the explanation but was then shocked to learn from social media that left-over vaccines were being used to double-dose people at the City Hall pop-up clinic.

“It’s incredibly frustrating from my perspective that I was told there is a rule and then exceptions were applied, and it wasn’t given to the group that is the most vulnerable,” said Sue.

The University Health Network (UHN) says 150 volunteers received a vaccine, which usually happens the end of the day to ensure already thawed doses do not go to waste. In this case, everyone working for the clinic that day already had their first shot, so second doses were administered.

Elderly people living in retirement and long-term care homes were fully vaccinated as part of the province’s blitz earlier this year.

Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams said this was done precisely because they are more vulnerable to the virus. However, seniors living in communities are still waiting.

“One dose is not full protection, we need to give older adults two doses,” said Dr. Amit Arya, a palliative and long-term care physician who works in the GTA.

RELATED: Toronto reaches milestone as 65% of adults vaccinated with 1 dose

He says it’s time to start prioritizing second shots for people 80 and older living in hotspots.

“I’ve seen people coming in who have had one dose but yet are very sick and even have died afterwards,” he explains. “That should not be happening.”

For younger, healthier people, a single dose of Moderna or Pfizer is very effective, says Williams. He says they provide close to 80 per cent protection against all symptoms of the virus, and nearly 100 per cent protection against severe illness and hospitalization.

The province initially delayed second doses beyond the recommended three- and four-week intervals to ensure as many residents as possible could be partially protected as the third wave of the virus swept through communities.

Right now, there are no plans to move to fully vaccinate the general population any sooner than the four-month timeline, but CityNews has been told the vaccine task force will be meeting this week to discuss second doses.

“The good point is that we have lots of people wanting to get their second dose,” said Williams. “We are going to try and see how soon we can move on that.”

Some Ontarians are already eligible for second doses. People in Toronto, Windsor and Kingston who were vaccinated as part of the province’s AstraZeneca pharmacy pilot program in March can now get their shots, shortening their vaccination wait from 16 weeks to 10 or 12 weeks.

It’s part of the effort to use 45,000 doses of AstraZeneca that are set to expire on Monday, according to the Ontario Pharmacists Association. Their leader says there’s still time to use those shots, but the timeline is challenging.

“There is a risk certainly with the challenges logistically of mobilizing quickly,” says Justin Bates, CEO of the Ontario Pharmacists Association. “But we are confident doing everything possible, from a pharmacy perspective, to ensure that there is limited to no wastage.”

Once those shots are taken care of, Williams says second dose availability will be expanded to the next bracket of the more than 650,000 Ontarians who received first doses of AstraZeneca.

RELATED: Ontarians report issues with booking 2nd AstraZeneca dose as expiry date looms

“We now have another 254,000 doses of AstraZeneca we hope to roll out to a wider area,” he says. He adds it would be ideal if Ontarians waited 12 weeks between AstraZeneca shots, as research has shown waiting three months between shots boosts the body’s immune response. He notes that the science supporting waiting longer between shots for Pfizer and Moderna is not as conclusive so far.

Williams says the province wants to ensure no one is left behind by vaccination efforts.

“We don’t want to have people queuing up for the second dose while we have people still waiting for their first dose,” he said. “We’re trying to do a fine balancing act.”