SHA monitoring supply of special needles used in Pfizer vaccine distribution

Not only is Saskatchewan dependent on getting vaccines from the federal government, but also the special syringes used to administer the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses.

They’re called “Low Dead Space,” or LDS needles. A qualified health care professional can draw six vaccine doses from the Pfizer vaccine vials using them, by limiting how much of the vaccine gets trapped inside.

There’s only one problem: they’re in very high demand around the world.

According to Federal Public Service and Procurement Minister Anita Anand, Canada is working on getting tens of millions of those LDS syringes.

“Canada has proactively placed orders for 64 million of these types of syringes,” she said during an announcement on Feb. 2.

The first order of one million was expected in the first week of Feb. It’s not clear whether there have been more deliveries since then.

According to a statement from the Saskatchewan Health Authority, two shipments of  1 mL LDS syringes have been made to the province, for a total of 66,000.

“Every week we allocate the syringes from the SHA Central Warehouse to each location to match the number of Pfizer vaccine doses being administered,” read the statement. “As of this week, the expectation is that all Pfizer vaccine administration is utilizing 1 mL LDS syringes.”

The special syringes will only be used for the Pfizer vaccines. Other types of syringes will be used to administer the Moderna vaccine.

The SHA said last week there were 13,600 LDS syringes distributed, and another 15,800 will be shipped this week. After those shipments, there will be 36,600 left in their inventory.

On Tuesday, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said tens of thousands of Pfizer vaccines would be coming in the next couple of weeks.

“We do expect to receive about 28,000 from Pfizer as well as 4,500 from Moderna. These will be distributed to a number of locations throughout the province,” he said.

That would leave only 8,600 syringes in the provincial inventory. According to the SHA, the federal government has indicated that additional supplies will be available over the next several weeks.

However, there are no specific details about when those deliveries will occur, or how many LDS syringes Saskatchewan may receive.