Vaccine holdback not required by Health Canada despite health minister’s claims

Saskatchewan maintains the federal government asked the province to hold back half of the first COVID-19 vaccine doses delivered to the province, despite comments from Health Canada otherwise.

Several times during a news conference on Wednesday, Health Minister Paul Merriman said the province was “required” by the federal government and Health Canada to hold back half of the first two shipments of the vaccine to save a second dose for recipients. Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two doses to be fully effective.

“That was dictated by the federal government and by Health Canada that we had to hold back that second dose,” Merriman said.

Merriman used that as part of the defence as to why just over 30 per cent of the vaccine doses the province had received had been administered.

However, Health Canada said that’s not the case.

“There is no requirement from the federal government to hold back the second dose in the vaccine series,” Health Canada wrote in an emailed statement.

When confronted with the discrepancy Friday, Merriman maintained that Saskatchewan officials were told verbally and in writing to hold back the second dose. However, Merriman used words like “asked” and “recommended” instead of “required” and “dictated.”

“We did not want to disobey the rules of what the federal government and Public Health Canada had outlined for us. We wanted to make sure that we were doing what they had recommended,” Merriman said.

Merriman repeated that, in mid-December when the first vaccines arrived, health officials didn’t know when more vaccine shipments would be coming so they had to hold back.

When asked for clarification, Health Canada repeated there is no requirement to hold back vaccine for the second dose, and it pointed to a document from the National Advisory Committee on Immunizations called “Recommendations on the use of COVID-19 vaccines.”

The document gives guidance on decision-making processes, including whether to hold back vaccines or use all available. At the end of the section, it states that provinces will have to make their own decisions on which route is best.

“Provinces and territories will have to determine the best course of action based on their own analysis and logistical contexts, including risks and unintended consequences that may occur as a result of delaying the second dose of vaccine,” reads the document.

Regardless, Merriman said the province will no longer be saving vaccine for second doses. He noted it wasn’t a change in federal policy, but a change in the provincial government’s decisions.

In its daily COVID-19 media release, the Saskatchewan government said 6,015 doses of COVID vaccine had been administered in the province as of Friday. That represented an increase of 1,183 from Thursday, the largest one-day increase to date.

The total included: 2,069 Pfizer doses and 815 second doses in the Regina pilot program; 2,627 Pfizer doses in Saskatoon; 160 Pfizer doses in Prince Albert; and, 344 Moderna doses in the far northwest zone.