AstraZeneca waiting period may be lowered in In Mississauga, Brampton and Ontario

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Published June 12, 2021 at 12:15 am

vaccine

Speculation began Friday night that Ontario will lower the 12-week wait time for people whose first COVID-19 vaccine was an AstraZeneca jab.

Such a policy change would be welcome for residents of Misissisauga and Brampton. The cities have been prioritized for second dose vaccines due to being delta variant hotspots. Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie and Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown and their counterparts in other cities have said that had the 12-week waiting period left essential workers at risk. Both they and doctors have said that person who has only one dose is more likely to contract COVID-19, and possibly spread it to others while being asympomatic, than someone with two.

On Friday night, two infectious diseases experts with large Twitter followings, Dr. Isaac Bogoch and Dr. Ryan Imgrund, said they expect the 12-week interval will be shortened. Cheri DiNova, a prominent former Ontario NDP MPP, also hinted that a “drastic shortening” is in the works.

Bogoch serves on Ontario’s COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Task Force. Imgrund is a biostatistician with 67,600 Twitter follows. Both shared email correspondences with Dr. Kieran Moore, the incoming Chief Medical Officer of Ontario.

Most other jurisdictions in Canada have an eight-week waiting period for AstraZeneca recipients. Ontario’s present policy is 12 weeks regardless of which vaccine a person wants for their second dose.

Any official announcement would from the Ontario Ministry of Health.

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