Chris Richard remembers when he was excited to get the Astrazeneca vaccine against COVID-19. It was about three weeks ago.

“There’s a group of my friends, we’re all in our 40s … we all scrambled and got appointments within that first week,” he said.

“The opportunity to get it early — honestly, I was excited about it, right? And when have we ever been excited to go get a shot?

“And after I got it, there was kind of a euphoria that you get … like you’re taking the first actual step to returning to normal life.”

On Tuesday, the provincial government said it was pausing first-dose Astrazeneca vaccinations over growing concerns the vaccine is linked to rare but potentially deadly blood clots.

Now, said Richard, a St. Catharines lawyer, the feeling is “not really regret, just kind of ‘I wish this had gone a little differently.’”

Since early April, Niagara pharmacies have provided more than 20,000 doses of the AZ vaccine to people 40 and older, while primary care doctors gave close to 5,000.
In recent weeks, local supplies dwindled to the point pharmacists gave five vaccinations Tuesday and family doctors gave 40.

The pause on Astrazeneca hasn’t affected vaccination clinics run by Niagara Health and Niagara Region Public Health, which provided about 3,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine Tuesday.

In Ontario, there have been eight cases of people developing blood clots after receiving an Astrazeneca shot. None were fatal, but three women in other provinces have died.
Clotting issues were also cited in Europe, and what was originally believed to be about a
one-in-a-million chance of them developing is now pegged at roughly one in 60,000 as of Tuesday.

In the meantime, Ontario plans to start sending Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to pharmacies to continue vaccinations.

It’s not clear yet whether people who received AZ as their first dose can receive Pfizer or Moderna for their second dose. Studies on the safety of mixing doses are underway in the U.K. and early results are expected before the end of the month.

Depending on supply, those people might still be able to get a second dose of Astrazeneca; the odds of developing a blood clot on second dose are again estimated at about one in a million.

“People who did get (Astrazeneca), I don’t think they should feel bad that they got it,” said Niagara’s acting medical officer of health, Dr. Mustafa Hirji.

“You went out, you got the vaccine, you got protection from COVID-19 earlier. As long as you’re not one of the very few, unfortunate people who is going to get the rare clotting issue, you’ve got the benefit of the vaccine, absolutely.”

Aaron Boggio, whose company operates several pharmacies across Niagara, said four of his stores provided about 2,800 shots before supplies ran out at the end of April.

“When COVID cases were skyrocketing … absolutely, the choice to get Astrazeneca vaccine made sense,” he said, noting some clients were worried by the risk of blood clots.

While the risk remains “extremely low,” with cases declining and more than half of the adult population having received at least one vaccine dose, he said, “I think we’re realizing that risk-benefit is starting to wear off to the point where maybe what we should do is aim for a different vaccine that doesn’t have the blood clot risk.”

Each of his four outlets providing shots has a waiting list of about 3,000 names, he said. He hasn’t been told when Pfizer and Moderna shipments will arrive.

“Hopefully through the rest of the month of May and into June we’re going to be going like 90 here, immunizing people.”

He hopes the province will start providing better advance notice of their arrival, though.
“We could literally get doses dropped off at the door tomorrow or it could be next week or the week after that. Who knows?” he said.

That’s crucial, because Pfizer can only be stored in a regular refrigerator for about five days after it is removed from the deep-freeze it will be delivered in.
Despite everything he’s learned in the three weeks since getting his first dose of Astrazeneca, Richard said “I really do value the fact that for the past month, I go to bed every night thinking my body is making antibodies.

“So there certainly is some value to that.”
Still, he admits, had he known the real risk of blood clots “my decision might have been different.”

Website: https://www.gravesandrichard.com/