COVID-19: Quebec changes its vaccination strategy to immunize more people | Coronavirus

The goal is to speed up the vaccination of the most vulnerable, as the surge in new cases continues in the province.

#Rapid vaccination […] would substantially reduce the burden of COVID-19, especially in severe cases, and protect network workers, who are essential to ensure the delivery of health services, explains the ministry in a press release.

#Until now, half of the vaccines received have been put aside by the government to reserve a second dose for people who have already been inoculated.

#This change in strategy, recommended by the #Committee on #Immunization of #Quebec, comes as the #Minister of #Health #Christian #Dubé initially said that the pharmaceutical company #Pfizer asked #Quebec to keep half of the doses.

The #Department of #Health has clarified that deliveries of #Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are being made over the coming weeks and that there is therefore no longer any stake in using the set of doses, without keeping the second reserved.

#Quebec is not the only province to have changed its vaccination strategy. #Ontario and #Manitoba, which initially kept half of the vaccines received against COVID-19, have decided to back down and administer all the doses available to them in order to immunize as many people as possible.

#British #Columbia has also chosen this distribution strategy.

#Vaccine efficacy from the first dose

#For best efficacy, the two COVID-19 vaccines approved by #Health #Canada should be administered twice. The first dose should be followed by a booster approximately three weeks apart for the #Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and four weeks later for the #Moderna vaccine.

#But according to the #Ministry of #Health, the effectiveness of the first dose, 14 days after administration, is over 90% for both vaccines (#Pfizer and #Moderna).

#Data confirmed by the epidemiologist at the #National #Institute of #Public #Health #Gaston #De #Serre, who estimates that the first dose of #Pfizer and #Moderna vaccines provides 92% protection, after 14 days.

#Do not think that it takes two doses to be well protected.

#We are not saying that a single dose will be sufficient to protect for a long time, but it is certain that a single dose protects well in the very short term., estimates the epidemiologist.

The #Legault government recalls, however, that the second dose is important since it allows especially to ensure long term protection.

#Epidemiologist #Gaston #De #Serre explains that the second dose increases the level of antibodies, but according to him the long-term effectiveness has yet to be studied.

#Hopefully this is something that provides long-term protection, but in both studies [de Moderna et de Pfizer-BioNTech], people were followed for a short time, he explains.

#In addition, the #World #Health #Organization (WHO) on #Thursday granted its first emergency approval, in the context of the pandemic, to the #Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

#With information from #Fanny #Samson.