National advisory committee recommends AstraZeneca vaccine for people 30 and older

OTTAWA — A national advisory panel has recommended people 30 and older can get a shot of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine if they do not want to wait for an alternative.

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization provided the update in a briefing on Friday.

The committee initially recommended a pause on using AstraZeneca shots for people younger than 55 out of an abundance of caution after reports of rare blood clots.

It said Health Canada released a safety assessment that showed the benefits of the shots outweigh the risks, which the committee also evaluated.

Although provinces initially paused giving AstraZeneca shots to younger people based on the committee’s advice, some have since started administering it to people over 40, given the current spread of the virus.

The committee said the blood clots are rare, and people have an individual choice if they would rather wait to take the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines.

Those vaccines use messenger RNA, or mRNA, to trigger an immune response, unlike AstraZeneca, which is a viral-vector vaccine that delivers a safe virus to teach the body to protect against COVID-19.

“What we want is to vaccinate Canadians as quickly as possible. However, if you are in an area where there is no COVID transmission, if you have no contacts with the outside, or if you’re able to shelter through public health measures, then there is a possibility to wait for the mRNA vaccine,” said advisory chair Dr. Caroline Quach-Thanh.

A spokeswoman for Ontario’s health minister said the province welcomes the recommendation and looks forward to receiving future shipments of AstraZeneca, which will allow it to begin vaccinating more people in younger age groups.

“With approximately 337,000 doses remaining and future shipments not expected until May, we will continue to administer AstraZeneca to individuals 40 and over in pharmacies and primary care settings until we receive additional supply,” said Alexandra Hilkene in a statement.

“As we continue to fight COVID-19, we are doing everything possible to get as many vaccines into arms as quickly and safely as possible.”

New Brunswick’s chief medical health officer said that province won’t receive any more AstraZeneca doses until the end of May and for now will keep offering it to people 55 and older.

A spokeswoman also said Newfoundland and Labrador doesn’t have immediate plans to change its advice about the shot.

Procurement Minister Anita Anand provided an update Friday about how many more vaccine doses are coming to Canada, which didn’t include AstraZeneca, although talks continue with the United States about possibly receiving some of their supply.

She said the country can expect to receive around one million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech early next week and 650,000 doses of Moderna by mid-week.

Towards the end of next week, Anand said they expect to get the first shipment of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson product in 300,000 doses, which will be sent to provinces and territories the following week.

Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press