Why experts say 2nd vaccine doses should be rolled out now – CBC

Increase in vaccine supply, drop in COVID-19 levels and growing threat of variants prompt calls for 2nd doses

May 29, 2021

Canada’s controversial decision to delay second doses of COVID-19 vaccines far beyond other countries and manufacturing guidelines was a calculated risk — and some experts say that without question it worked.

More Canadians were given partial protection from one dose, as opposed to what would’ve been half as many fully protected with two. That helped to drive our surging third wave down in much of the country at a critical time.

But some experts say it’s time to shift to prioritizing second doses for Canadians because of an increase in vaccine supply, a drop in COVID-19 levels and the growing threat of more contagious coronavirus variants that could jeopardize the progress made.

“There is no question that for the whole of Canada, from the perspective of lives saved, that giving single doses to people and asking them to defer their second dose was the best idea,” said Dr. Allison McGeer, a medical microbiologist and infectious diseases specialist at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/canada-covid-19-vaccine-second-dose-delay-variants-1.6045226