TORONTO – Hesitancy is growing toward mixing Moderna and Pfizer vaccine in Ontario. As was widely expected, the unavailability of the Pfizer covid-19 vaccine due to a late supply and the decision by Ontario health authorities to replace it with Moderna prompted thousands of people to cancel or postpone the appointment date for the second dose. This attitude is fuelled not so much by consideration as to the effectiveness of the vaccines themselves; they are both safe and effective, as confirmed by the health authorities, but by the doubts that the idea of mixing two different vaccines naturally evokes in people.

Justin Bates, president of the Ontario Pharmacists Association, confirmed that thousands of appointments have been cancelled in recent days and many people who arrived at pharmacies for the second dose have rejected the Modern vaccine.

Yet the federal, provincial and city health authorities have been very clear on this issue. At the beginning of June, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) issued a series of recommendations confirming the effectiveness and safety of heterologous vaccination: it remains preferable to keep the same vaccine with the first and second dose, but in case there is no availability, it would be advisable to proceed with another mRNA vaccine, Moderna and Pfizer then.

The fact is that the decision in Ontario to proceed with the vaccine mix, with the stated goal of immunizing as many people as possible in a short time, could also turn out to be a boomerang.

In fact, those people who have cancelled their appointment will do so again as soon as Pfizer becomes available again and this could lead to a general slowdown in the immunization campaign in our country and in Ontario.

In addition, it must be borne in mind that the number of people who have met the necessary conditions to receive the second dose has increased enormously within three days.

Until last Sunday, all residents of the province’s hotspots who had received the first dose earlier on May 9 could book the recall injection appointment.

Since Monday, this faculty has been extended to all Ontario residents who have come of age.  From today, moreover, those who live in the hotspots affected by the Delta variant and who received the first dose before May 30th can book an appointment for the second dose.

Despite the snag with heterologous vaccination, the immunization campaign proceeds according to the government-activated roadmap.

At the federal level, according to covid19tracker.ca, nearly 33 million doses of covid-19 vaccine have been administered in Canada so far.

Ontario administered 12,869,310 doses, 199,535 today alone. In our Province, there are 3,145,372 people who have received first and second doses and who are totally immunized. At the percentage level in Canada, 66% of the adult population received at least one dose of vaccine, while 20% completed their vaccination journey.