The Peterborough Examiner e-edition

Salvaterra surprised as 25 shun Moderna

Evinrude Centre vaccine clinic capacity to soon be doubled

JOELLE KOVACH

Twenty-five people arrived for appointments at the Evinrude Centre’s mass immunization clinic on Thursday but refused to be vaccinated because they didn’t want Moderna, said the medical officer of health.

“I’m dumbfounded … they gave up their chance to be immunized against COVID-19 when they learned we were using Moderna,” said Dr. Rosana Salvaterra at a virtual press briefing on Friday. “I just can’t believe it. I have no idea why that’s the case.”

Salvaterra said both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines against COVID-19 are “incredible.”

“When you look at how effective they are — especially in older populations — they blow influenza vaccines out of the water, they are so powerful,” she said. “So I can’t understand why anyone would turn down a Moderna vaccine.”

Meanwhile first doses of COVID-19 vaccine have now been administered to 45.4 per cent of the vaccine-eligible population in Peterborough city and

county, Curve Lake First Nation and Hiawatha First Nation, Peterborough Public Health reported Thursday.

There have now been 60,427 doses administered in Peterborough clinics, though that includes several hundred people from out of the region who journeyed here to get available vaccination appointments.

That’s up from 56,409 doses administered as of a week ago.

The supply of vaccine locally has been limited because the province diverted vaccine to higher-risk areas of Ontario, but it is expected to pick up in coming weeks.

About 800 people are now being vaccinated daily at the Evinrude Centre, but that number will be doubling soon because the health unit is expecting greater quantities of Pfizer doses in their shipments starting May 17.

Although there were no more appointments available on Friday, Salvaterra asked people to be patient because more will be available as early as Monday.

The Evinrude Centre will soon be using the ice pad space for vaccination and potentially extending its daily hours too, Salvaterra said.

Next week, people aged 40 and older will be eligible to book their vaccine appointments in the mass immunization clinics, Salvaterra said, and people with certain health conditions such as diabetes will be able to book, too.

Four local pharmacies have also been booking AstraZeneca shots for people 40 and older, but supplies have been limited.

Right now, all people 50 and older can now book mass vaccination clinic appointments, along with people with certain high-risk health conditions (along with one of their essential caregivers) and certain essential workers who cannot work from home (such as remaining school workers including teachers, custodians, school bus drivers and administrative staff, along with enforcement inspectors, child-care-centre workers, foster-care workers and providers, food manufacturing and distribution workers, farm workers and funeral and cemetery workers).

By May 24 Salvaterra expects everyone 18 and older to be eligible to reserve a vaccine appointment.

Meanwhile, eligibility will be extended to children 12 and older soon, Salvaterra said, now that Health Canada has approved Pfizer for those 12 to 15; she said more details will be available within a week or two about the local rollout for kids.

For now, children will have to take the jab: there’s no nasal spray vaccine against COVID-19 available yet, though Salvaterra said a team of virologists at the University of Ottawa is working on it.

Later this summer there may also be drive-thru immunization clinics, Salvaterra added.

That will be for people’s second doses, she said, because by then people will know from their first dose whether they’re likely to have an immediate allergic reaction to the vaccine (it’s tricky to attend to someone having a reaction in a vehicle, she said.)

Plans are still being made regarding the exact location of these drive-thrus and when they will be available, Salvaterra said, although she said it’s possible they will be in multiple locations.

The health unit has also set up a vaccination appointment standby list for people who are willing to receive a leftover dose at the end of a clinic. People signing up must be reachable and available between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. daily and within a 30-minute drive of the clinic. Register at peterboroughpublichealth.ca

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2021-05-08T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-05-08T07:00:00.0000000Z

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