May 4, 2021
TORONTO — The National Advisory Committee on Immunization is being accused of creating confusion about COVID-19 vaccines after it restated that mRNA vaccines were “preferred” over the viral vector ones.
On Monday, NACI doubled down on its position that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were “preferred” over the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca shots, and that Canadians should weigh the risks before they decide which one to receive.
The viral vector AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson doses have been linked to an extremely rare and potentially life-threatening blood-clotting syndrome called vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VIITT). The risk for developing this syndrome is estimated to be anywhere from one case in 100,000 doses to one case in 250,000.