We know anxiety and uncertainty is high around second doses right now, especially given the number of other provinces who have updated their guidelines and expected gap between doses. Here’s a quick rundown of what we know. #abvax #COVID19AB
We’re expecting it to be harder to get an appointment once 2nd doses open, so tell *everyone* you know who’s been stalling for no real reason to get their first shot ASAP. In most of the province they can get an appointment today or over the weekend!
It’s also a good time to see if you have any friends or family whose appointments are still a few weeks away, especially in the Calgary area where it was harder to get appointments. (It’s not any more!) Help them find an earlier appointment and cancel that later one!
It’s hard to wait when appointments are going unfilled, but pharmacies are fielding endless (and often abusive) calls about 2nd doses. This is widening inequity—people with time to make a lot of calls or rush to a cancellation are getting 2nd doses over more at-risk people.
We’re anticipating 2nd doses to open next week based on the AHS appointment scheduling, and once they start it’s going to move quickly. We’re assuming first will be the 2A folks (ages 65+) who got their first doses in March.
Check in with your seniors and make sure they know to be following for updates and check in again with them once it’s announced! Some of those earliest seniors had a second appointment booked for them 4 months after their first, so they may think they have to wait for that.
The government is working on a central booking system for 2nd doses, but it’s not clear yet at what point in the rollout of 2nd doses they’ll be shifting to it. Pharmacies will still be ADMINISTERING vaccines, but booking will all be centralized for a more streamlined process.
(This is how it works in Nova Scotia and it is an absolute dream to use, so we’re hoping they’re taking notes from our Maritime friends on this one.)
AZ folks, we know messaging is inconsistent. The rec'd gap for AZ is 12 weeks and the 1st AZ folks hit that next week. They’re waiting on an imminent study on vaccine mixing to confirm options, but there’s enough AZ on hand for 2nd doses for the 1st group and we expect more soon.
The TL;DR: second doses are imminent, so let’s get as many people as we can booked for their first doses now so we can maximize space for 2nd doses. Be kind to pharmacy staff, they don’t make the rules. Sit tight, wear your mask, hang in there just a little longer.
(@AHS_Media, we’d still love an update to the waste mitigation guidelines for pharmacies to reflect the eligibility changes and second doses—we hear from a lot of confused and worried pharmacies about this.)
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