Vaccine shots could happen by week’s end

By Peter Jackson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Telegram

Dec 14, 2020

Premier Andrew Furey seemed like a kid on Christmas morning as he kicked off the week’s first COVID-19 briefing Monday.

“This is the start of a very exciting week,” he said.

Twelve hours earlier, the first shipment of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine had landed in Montreal and preparations were being made to ship it to 14 centres across Canada.

“I’d like to stress that Health Canada warns that all vaccines carry a warning about the risks of serious allergic reactions.” —Premier Andrew Furey

This province’s first batch of 1,950 doses should arrive at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John’s within a couple of days. They could be going into arms by week’s end.

Since the vaccine has to be kept at -70 C, the drug company has asked that its first shipments be kept and administered at the point of arrival, so the first doses will be given to front-line health-care workers in the city.

As more vaccine arrives, long-term care residents and workers are expected to be next in line. Authorities are still deciding how subsequent doses will be prioritized.

The premier made a point of assuring that the vaccines are safe.

“We can all assure you that this vaccine has proper approval after a rigorous scientific review,” said Furey, who was joined at the briefing by Health Minister Dr. John Haggie and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald.

“People need to be educated and aware of the side-effect profile. Those side-effects, even though they’re limited, can include pain at the site of injection, body chills, feeling tired and fatigued, and even feeling a bit feverish. These effects will resolve on their own and do not pose a risk to your health.”

Possible allergic reactions are always a concern, he said.

“I’d like to stress that Health Canada warns that all vaccines carry a warning about the risks of serious allergic reactions.”

Polyethylene glycol is one non-active ingredient that can cause a reaction, but experts say Pfizer’s ingredients are largely typical of other vaccines.

For now, it’s also not recommended for pregnant women and immuno-compromised people, only because the data on those groups is somewhat preliminary.

Furey said anyone with further questions should contact their primary caregiver.

Winding down

Meanwhile, with one new confirmed case of COVID-19 to report Monday, Fitzgerald said the investigations into small clusters in Central and Western Health regions of the province are winding down.

For the Deer Lake area, the probe is complete.

“The public health investigation in the region has concluded, and the investigation has not found any evidence of COVID-19 virus transmission within schools or in the community,” she said, adding that one case there on the weekend turned out to be a false positive. “With this new information, we no longer need to proceed with broader community testing in the area.”

In Harbour Breton, where three health-care workers tested positive over the span of a couple of weeks, the investigation is also all but completed.

“We have found no evidence of widespread community transmission in Harbour Breton to date,” Fitzgerald said.

Public Health staff have conducted more than 500 tests in the community in the past few days.

“At the moment, they’re still working through a few paths, and I think within the next couple of days they’ll have finalized that investigation.”

Monday’s new case was a man in his 50s in the Eastern Health region, and is travel-related.

‘Grinchy’

Fitzgerald reiterated her plea to restrict informal gatherings to 20 close contacts, but was happy the message appears to be getting through.

“I have heard of many functions being cancelled or modified to make sure that they’re in line with our recommendations,” she said. “I know it seems terribly Grinchy of me to express happiness at this, but I know that these measures will prevent the spread of COVID in our province, and that has to take priority over all else right now.”

The main thing, she said, is not to expand one’s overall contacts beyond the magic number.

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“This means you shouldn’t be attending parties with different groups of people from night to night.”