{"id":280230,"date":"2021-06-21T23:14:11","date_gmt":"2021-06-21T20:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/my-first-dose-was-pfizer-why-am-i-being-offered-moderna-for-the-second\/"},"modified":"2021-06-21T23:14:11","modified_gmt":"2021-06-21T20:14:11","slug":"my-first-dose-was-pfizer-why-am-i-being-offered-moderna-for-the-second","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/my-first-dose-was-pfizer-why-am-i-being-offered-moderna-for-the-second\/","title":{"rendered":"#My first dose was Pfizer. Why am I being offered Moderna for the second?"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#My first dose was Pfizer. Why am I being offered Moderna for the second?<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n Experts say the two mRNA vaccines are interchangeable as millions of doses of both Pfizer and Moderna arrive in Canada\n <\/div>\n
\n Vaccine records are tumbling almost daily. On June 18, 532,000 shots were put into arms in Canada, according to <\/span>data collected by COVID-19 Tracker Canada<\/span><\/a>. Ontario was averaging 175,000 doses a day at the beginning of last week; as of June 21, that had climbed to 190,000 doses a day as another 2.3 million people in the province became eligible for second doses, according to <\/span>data requested<\/span><\/a> by <\/span>Maclean\u2019s <\/span><\/i>from the Ministry of Health. On Sunday, June 27, <\/span>Toronto is marking Vaccine Day<\/span><\/a> by opening a huge clinic at Scotiabank Arena, home to the Maple Leafs and Raptors. The aim: to set a one-day record for the most shots administered at one clinic. And most of those doses will be Moderna.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Because of a hiccup in the delivery of Pfizer doses\u2014this week\u2019s <\/span>shipment of 2.4 million doses<\/span><\/a> is delayed until the middle of the week\u2014the city, like many other jurisdictions, is reserving its Pfizer supplies to youths ages 12 to 17, as it is the only app<\/a>roved vaccine for that age cohort.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Health experts and authorities across the country have approved Moderna as a second dose if your first was AstraZeneca or Pfizer. Last week, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) <\/span>updated its second dose guidance<\/span><\/a>: for those who first received AstraZeneca, it recommends getting a mRNA vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna) as the second dose because of the continued risk of rare blood clots with AstraZeneca as well as \u201ce<\/span>merging evidence suggesting better immune responses\u201d from mixing and matching with a second dose of mRNA.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0Fully vaccinated people have gotten the Delta COVID variant. Should we be worried?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

At the same time, NACI reiterated its second dose recommendation for those whose first shot was a mRNA vaccine: <\/span>\u201cIf the same product is not readily available, or the product used for the first dose is unknown, another mRNA vaccine is considered interchangeable and should be used to complete the series<\/a>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>In the past few days, experts have explained to any hesitant second-dosers that Moderna and Pfizer are virtually indistinguishable and have similar efficacy against COVID-19 (in fact, one dose of Moderna is <\/span>more effective<\/span><\/a> at preventing infection than a single dose of Pfizer). <\/span>\u201cBoth Pfizer and Moderna are mRNA vaccines. They\u2019re not identical but extremely similar and it\u2019s perfectly okay to get one dose of each,\u201d <\/span>explained Dr. Deena Hinshaw<\/span><\/a>, Alberta\u2019s chief medical officer of health. <\/span>The Manitoba government site concurred: <\/span>Adults are \u201creminded that they do not need to wait for a Pfizer for second-dose appointments, and may get Moderna if it is available to them earlier. Pfizer and Moderna are both safe, effective and interchangeable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Pfizer hiccup notwithstanding, a lot<\/span><\/i> of doses are arriving in Canada. <\/span>Last week, three separate deliveries brought nearly seven million doses of Moderna vaccine into the country, according to Procurement Canada. And that\u2019s not all: an additional 2.4 million doses of Pfizer and 2.8 million doses of Moderna will arrive this week, according to data from Procurement Canada.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By the end of June, Canada is expected to have received a cumulative total of more than 50 million doses since the first shipment arrived in December, including:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n