Ontario deputy premier discusses 2nd AstraZeneca vaccine dose after rollout paused | FULL

Ontario Deputy Premier Christine Elliott said on Wednesday that the province is waiting on a determination from Health Canada and the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) regarding the safety of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, and data about vaccine mixing, after the province hit pause on its rollout.

"Data out of the U.K. shows a dramatically reduced risk of the adverse reaction called VITT (vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia) in second doses of AstraZeneca. And we are also seeing promising results of administering a second dose of a different vaccine. We look forward to providing more guidance shortly," she stated.

On Tuesday, the province announced it was pausing the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in the province due to safety and supply-related issues. Chief medical officer Dr. David Williams said the decision was made out of an abundance of caution because of increased instances of an extremely rare and potentially fatal blood clotting disorder linked to the shot.

As of May 8, there were eight cases of VITT reported in the province after approximately 901,800 doses were administered.

The Ontario government also announced Wednesday that 254,500 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine will be delivered to the province the week of May 17, and that they would be used as second shots only.

For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/news/7854719/astrazeneca-covid-vaccine-second-shots-ontario/

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