By Elishya Perera
MONTRÉAL, Québec (CU)_The Health Department of Canada said on Thursday (11 March) that the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is safe and its benefits outweigh its risks, after Norway and Denmark temporarily suspended its use amid reports of blood clots in those who had received the vaccine.
“Health Canada is aware of reports of adverse events in Europe following immunization with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, and would like to reassure Canadians that the benefits of the vaccine continue to outweigh its risks,” the department said in a statement.
“At this time, there is no indication that the vaccine caused these events.”
The Department noted that to date, there have been no adverse events reported to Health Canada or the Public Health Agency of Canada, in relation to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Last week, the North American nation received 500,000 AstraZeneca doses produced at the Serum Institute of India, while another 1.5 million doses are expected to be delivered by May.
So far, the federal government has ordered a total of 20 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, of which 1.9 million are expected to be received through COVAX, an initiative supported by the WHO and a group of international vaccine advocacy groups, aiming to guarantee fair and equitable access to COVID vaccines for every country in the world.
Although the Canadian government has ordered more COVID-19 vaccines doses per capita than any other country, however, it is significantly lagging behind in its vaccine rollout.
Since the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine was administered in Canada in mid-December, most of those who have been vaccinated are front-line healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities.
Nevertheless, some provinces have now begun immunising those outside these settings, with the most populous state of Ontario having begun vaccinating residents aged 80 and older, while a few other territories offer vaccines to all adults.
Despite such improvements, as of Thursday evening (11 March), less than 2.8 million doses of approved COVID-19 vaccines have been administered across the country, while around 5.6 per cent of the population has received at least one dose.
