While the province has opened up the AstraZeneca vaccine to anyone age 40 and over with pharmacies and primary care offices able to distribute the vaccine, the local health unit says there’s no word yet on how many doses are being made available locally.
With the likelihood that many people in the region will be receiving this particular vaccine, Dr. Ethan Toumishey of Hastings Prince Edward Public Health stresses it is not only effective against COVID-19 but safe.
He says adverse side effects like blood clots are very rare, with the chance of it happening at about one in a million.
“When we look at what this would translate to, if everyone who would be available to get the vaccine within Hastings and Prince Edward Counties got AstraZeneca itself, on a statistical basis, we would likely not see this particular side effect.”
Dr. Toumishey says percentage-wise, the AstraZeneca vaccine is very effective against COVID-19.
“Preventing COVID infection to our understanding this appears to be around the 70 realm as far as for effectiveness but higher numbers associated with preventing severe infection and complications such as being hospitalized, going into the ICU or dying from COVID itself.”
People over the age of 40 can go to the provincial booking website to find a list of pharmacies in their area that will be offering the vaccine and information on how to get on the wait list.
