V Day, as the UK media are besides themselves to have coined, has started. First cab off the rank Margaret Keenan, aged 90, an in-patient at NHS University Hospital Coventry.
I for one welcome our new vaccine overlords!
Canada is expecting to approve the Pfizer vaccine this week and we have 250K does expected by the end of the month. Moderna should follow shortly.
Canada has purchased 400M doses combined for 39M people, but I don’t expect to reach the front of the line until late spring at best.
Did you mean 400M or 40M?
This is great news for the UK. I’m hopeful the US V Day is by the end of the week.
I don’t know total but Canada has 40M on order from Moderna alone. It was apparently one of the more aggressive western countries doing advance purchases.
I actually undersold it, Canada has orders for 414 million shots:
The Canadian government realized with no domestic production capacity we would hedge our bet with multiple orders with different manufacturers back in the spring and summer. This of course assumes all the vaccines are approved. We’ve got about 45 million doses coming just from Pfizer and Moderna.
The intention is to provide our surplus vaccines to countries that can’t afford it.
Is anyone following the approval process? Is there any chance the FDA will approve any of the other candidates before or at the same time as Pfizer?
I got my number of 40M of Moderna alone because apparently Canada exercised an option to up their order by 20M yesterday.
Seem to have missed the chance to call it Victory over Corona Day (VC day).
My dad, who is almost 80, thinks he might be getting vaccinated at the end of January. Hope the U.S. is that organized.
In theory those in Nursing Homes & Assisted living should be inoculated in January. Those at home but 80 could be January or February.
Anyway you count it, I’m confident Canada has addressed the sourcing. Now it’s just a waiting game to see how quickly we can get shots in arms.
On the weekend news shows they were saying likely Pfizer on Thursday and Moderna two weeks later by the FDA.
The second person to get vaccinated was a guy called William Shakespeare from Warwickshire. Cue a million puns on Twitter.
The lady who got the first non trial vaccine must be furious - everyone’s forgotten about her.
When asked about the experience, he replied, “'Twas not so wide as a chapel door, nor deep as a well, but 'twill suffice, 'twill serve.”
Ok, he didn’t really say that. Pity.
The taming of the flu etc and so on
If it were done, 'twere well it were done quickly
The following is based on my understanding of the Covax system, which is a bit complicated. I double-checked a few things from an article I’ll link at the end of this post, but some is based on recollection from other articles I’ve read. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Canada is part of Covax. (The US and Russia are the only remaining major holdouts.) The countries that are part of Covax have committed to buying vaccines and achieving certain levels of global inoculation so that vaccines are distributed equitably around the world. It’s aimed at not allowing all the richest countries to buy up vaccine and drive prices up until their populations are fully protected, and only then having poorer countries get a shot at it.
So Canada has a commitment to purchasing not just a sufficient supply for itself, but also for many other countries. I believe the plan is that each country gets enough vaccine, initially, to vaccinate 20% of its population, with healthcare/high risk segments being prioritized. Only after all countries receive enough vaccine to cover that would more vaccine be released. It’s a stepped rollout globally.
I know Canada has joined Covax, but I don’t know if they are one of the countries that has made side deals – “double dipping.” My guess would be no, but I don’t know. I assume all of the doses were bought for the Covax “facility.”
ETA: Nope I’m wrong. Canada’s agreements to purchase all of those doses actually undermines Covax.
From the Reuters article I linked, regarding Canada’s extra reserved doses. (Canada has purchased more doses per capita than any other country.)
I’m seeing conflicting reports on the name of the vaccinated gentleman. Some sources spell his name as “Shakespeare”, same as the Bard, but some have it as “Shakespere”. I’m guessing it’s more likely the latter, since it’d be more likely for a mistake to change it to the famous name than away from it, but I’m not sure.
Well, the other William Shakespeare spelled his name any which way he felt like at the moment, so maybe this guy is just keeping up the tradition?
In Canada’s defense, that order number is based on the idea that every vaccine they pre-bought would be successful. I doubt anyone thought in August there’d be such success as we have thus far.
True.
I think they are starting nursing homes this month, even this week. My wife and I are in the over 80 isolating at home group. We will be first in line when eligible.
I wonder how they will organize it. We got our flu shots by getting an appointment at our pharmacy. I guess they can do it again if they have a freezer. Apparently the vaccine is stable for several days at home freezer temperature. But I have heard nothing about the plans.