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We should administer Covid-19 vaccines as fast as possible, not reserve doses

theglobeandmail.com

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Re: We should administer Covid-19 vaccines as fast as possible, not reserve doses

#11

Post by dougmwne »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #3

All things being equal, perhaps. But first doses are medical professionals and other critical workers. Guaranteeing they will be here for the long haul is another worthy goal. I'm not sure 'spray and pray' is a well-thought-out approach. Its perhaps another internet pundit who can take one number and divide by another number and become an instant expert.

This is not what the article is about at all. It is saying we should not reserve the second dose in the freezer for that patient and should instead immediately distribute it to at-risk populations. Then we should trust the supply chain will come through for the second dose and that a 1-2 week delay in case it did not would not overly harm immunity. It is perhaps a very sensible suggestion that would depend on the supply chain quality.

I think we should all make efforts to tone down our rhetoric and not tilt at windmills.

Re: We should administer Covid-19 vaccines as fast as possible, not reserve doses

#12

Post by paulgb »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #3

All things being equal, perhaps. But first doses are medical professionals and other critical workers. Guaranteeing they will be here for the long haul is another worthy goal. I'm not sure 'spray and pray' is a well-thought-out approach. Its perhaps another internet pundit who can take one number and divide by another number and become an instant expert.

The issue is not who gets the vaccine, but whether to hold the second doses in reserve or distribute them as first doses and use later-arriving doses as second doses. The former has the obvious advantage of vaccinating more people quickly, but runs the risk that if the second doses don’t arrive on time the effects of the first dose will wear off.

Edit: I originally used the phrase “back to square one” but I agree with replies that it’s the wrong phrase.

Re: We should administer Covid-19 vaccines as fast as possible, not reserve doses

#13

Post by the_svd_doctor »

Lewton wrote: post #10

This seems very Canada specific, is any other country doing it like this? I'm fairly sure neither the US nor most european countries are doing this (I mean, Canada seems to be the only place that are reserving the second doses) Edit: This article is clearly being upvoted based on title alone

I’ve seen multiple experts in the media mentioning this idea in Belgium. Not sure if it is really considered by the government though.

Re: We should administer Covid-19 vaccines as fast as possible, not reserve doses

#14

Post by paulgb »

ars wrote: post #5

Summary: The title makes it seem like they are talking about medical professionals vs general public. But actually they are talking about reserving second doses for those who got the first dose, and the article says it's better to actually administer those doses, even if it means a delay on the second dose for people.

I hope that if people don’t bother to read the article they at least see your comment. Most of the comments here so far are debating the merits of what they assume from the title rather than the text of the article.

Re: We should administer Covid-19 vaccines as fast as possible, not reserve doses

#15

Post by wyldfire »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #6

Somewhat off topic but in theory, would it be possible to have jab #1 be Moderna's and jab #2 be Pfizer? Would it be ethical to test this? Is there anything inherent in either's approach that would make this dangerous?

The danger is that it's untested and might not provide any more benefit than just the first injection.

Re: We should administer Covid-19 vaccines as fast as possible, not reserve doses

#16

Post by dtoznayxvf »

d33lio wrote: post #2

But we're supposed to prolong the temporary overreach of government power! /s

They never do let a good crisis go to waste do they? Tell you what all those talking heads arguing about who get's to be first can have my dose.

Re: We should administer Covid-19 vaccines as fast as possible, not reserve doses

#17

Post by kevin_nisbet »

Lewton wrote: post #10

This seems very Canada specific, is any other country doing it like this? I'm fairly sure neither the US nor most european countries are doing this (I mean, Canada seems to be the only place that are reserving the second doses) Edit: This article is clearly being upvoted based on title alone

The initial vaccination statistics I saw over the weekend suggested that the US/UK have both far outpaced the Canadian vaccination rate (adjusted for population). I don't want to cite specific numbers as I don't remember what they were, but it was a pretty large gap among countries that had approved the vaccines.

Re: We should administer Covid-19 vaccines as fast as possible, not reserve doses

#18

Post by sanxiyn »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #6

Somewhat off topic but in theory, would it be possible to have jab #1 be Moderna's and jab #2 be Pfizer? Would it be ethical to test this? Is there anything inherent in either's approach that would make this dangerous?

In theory, yes, that should work. In practice, immunology is very complex and the only way to be sure is to test.

Re: We should administer Covid-19 vaccines as fast as possible, not reserve doses

#19

Post by bluenose69 »

It seems reasonable for different provinces to take different approaches, since their disease patterns vary significantly.

Ontario and Québec have endured many weeks of increasing numbers of diagnosed infections per day, whilst the other provinces have seen decreases.

The absolute incidences also vary between provinces, letting some test-and-trace cases more easily than others.

Re: We should administer Covid-19 vaccines as fast as possible, not reserve doses

#20

Post by Lewton »

bluenose69 wrote: post #19

It seems reasonable for different provinces to take different approaches, since their disease patterns vary significantly. Ontario and Québec have endured many weeks of increasing numbers of diagnosed infections per day, whilst the other provinces have seen decreases. The absolute incidences also vary between provinces, letting some test-and-trace cases more easily than others.

> Ontario and Québec have endured many weeks of increasing numbers of diagnosed infections per day

Which would indicate that they -shouldn't- be reserving doses...

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