The biggest challenge in rolling out coronavirus vaccines to Canadians may be the last leg of the race, medical and logistics experts say.
A successful vaccine rollout hinges on a registry to track who gets the vaccine — and when. And that registry requires something they say Canada doesn’t have: a nation-wide electronic medical system.
The federal government is planning to implement country-wide monitoring of vaccine coverage and to track safety and effectiveness, Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief medical officer of health, said Tuesday.
“We are also looking at augmenting the information technology (IT) as it’s needed to support this network of different systems at play,” Tam said.
The IT system needs to track not only who receives a shot — and for some vaccines when the next dose should go in the arm — but also who experiences any side-effects.
WATCH | Why Canadians could benefit from a dynamic vaccine registry:
Experts say Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout needs something it doesn’t currently have: a dynamic federal vaccine registry that can gather granular data about who has been vaccinated, who needs to be and how they reacted. There are only several, unlinked provincial databases in the country. 3:29
Mahesh Nagarajan, a professor at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business, said it’s a “monumental task” to build such a system.
“It’s called a dynamic vaccine registry, and we don’t have one of those in Canada,” said Nagarajan, an expert in supply chain and distribution.
Searching for a rare, side-effect signal
Instead, British Columbia, Yukon, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia each have a system for tracking immunizations. But provincial and territorial systems in the IBM-made registry, called Panorama, don’t really speak to one another.
Tam said while the clinical trials for vaccine candidates haven’t shown any serious side-effects, it’s only when the immunizations are rolled out to millions of people worldwide that any rare ones could be spotted.
“If we detect a signal, there would be a rapid response to investigate,” Tam said.
Dr. Jeff Kwong says the challenges of capturing vaccine data during the pandemic aren’t insurmountable. (CBC)
The detailed data from provinces and territories needs to feed up to Health Canada so experts can monitor vaccine coverage and safety.
Dr. Jeff Kwong, a senior scientist at the Toronto-based research organization, ICES, found a one-in-a-million risk of a serious condition that can lead to paralysis from influenza vaccination, as well as a much higher risk of the same syndrome from getting the flu itself.
Kwong said the challenges of capturing vaccine data for the coronavirus aren’t insurmountable.
He’s working with colleagues in several provinces (Ontario, B.C, Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec) to set up a system to monitor those who receive vaccines to protect against COVID-19 based on hospitalization and emergency department data.
“Then we can look to see if individuals who receive the vaccine are more likely to have certain side-effects than others, from the vaccine,” Kwong said.
Second stage of vaccinations
Health Canada will also require vaccine makers to provide more surveillance data as a condition of approval, Tam said.
Prashant Yadav, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington, works on improving health-care supply chains, including for vaccines. Yadav said he expects the ability to track the first stage of vaccinations of vulnerable seniors and health-care workers will benefit from reaching populations who are already closely monitored.
Paper records could suffice for them at first, he said.
“The real challenges will come when we go to true, mainstream population-level vaccination,” Yadav said. “We’ll have to resort to mass vaccination clinics, new vaccination sites, retail pharmacies and community pharmacies.”
The final path a vaccine takes from a distribution centre to a clinic to a patient’s arm involves regulations, supply chains and checks of the cold chain.
Paper records could suffice for the first stage of immunizations. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Frontline health care professionals who will administer the vaccines will also need to be trained on ensuring the ultra cold chain requirements for the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine are met, Yadav said.
Dr. Caroline Quach, a paediatric infectious disease physician and medical microbiologist at Sainte-Justine Hospital in Montreal, said surveillance for any potential adverse events following immunization is a necessary basis to ensure people’s trust.
“If we have a vaccine but it doesn’t get administered either because we can’t get it to people’s arms or because arms are not showing up, we’re not any further ahead of ourselves and so the scientific crisis will continue,” Quach said.
EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.
Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.
Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.
Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.
Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.
RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.
Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.
“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.
But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.
“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.
While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.
Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.
The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.
It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.
Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.
The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, have broken off without an agreement following 15 hours of talks.
Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they stayed at the bargaining table with help from a mediator until 2 a.m. Friday and made “some progress.”
However, he says the union negotiators didn’t get an offer that they could recommend to the membership.
McCann says that in some ways they are close to an agreement, but in other areas they are “miles apart.”
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people who can’t navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last week, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
McCann asks HandyDART users to be “patient,” since they are trying to get not only a fair contract for workers but also a better service for customers.
He says it’s unclear when the talks will resume, but he hopes next week at the latest.
The employer, Transdev, didn’t reply to an interview request before publication.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
