Health professionals in Powell River are reminding the public that benefits of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine greatly outweigh the very low risk associated with blood clots linked to the vaccine.
Lindsay Zakkour, a pharmacist at Shopper’s Drug Mart - one of five local pharmacies administering vaccines - said a number of patients have asked for reassurance that the vaccine is safe, with some citing online misinformation that overstates the risks.
“It’s frustrating because I think it’s definitely pushing people who are vaccine hesitant very far away from getting vaccinated,” explained Zakkour. “They don’t hear the good things to temper the bad things with, which is really unfortunate.”
This week, the province announced it was lowering the age of eligibility for the AstraZeneca shot to age 40 and over, in accordance with Health Canada guidelines. A different public health body, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), recently updated its guidelines to recommend that anyone aged 30 years and over should take the shot.
BC’s chief medical officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, said Monday, April 19, that research shows the risk of developing a blood clot associated with the vaccine is four in one million, compared to a 20,000 to 40,000 in a million chance of being hospitalized due to COVID-19.
There have been just four confirmed nonfatal cases of blood clots in Canada out of the 1.1 million doses administered so far. All the clot patients were treated, and are reportedly recovering at home.
Fortunately, Zakkour said, most patients are reassured when those numbers are explained to them.
“When people only hear the bad, they don’t acknowledge the good in the slightest, so we try to point out the good things,” she explained. “Anecdotally, I’d say probably 75 per cent of the people who bother to ask will listen, and be like, ‘oh, I didn’t realize it was that rare, let’s book the appointment.’”
Despite initial hesitancy among some patients, Zakkour said most are thrilled to get vaccinated.
“People are so happy to be able to do something to contribute to ending this,” she added. “They all express the same thankfulness and gratitude.”
Some of that enthusiasm, she added, can be used to help the public effort by encouraging friends and family to also make an appointment.
“No matter what scientists say, people listen to people,” said Zakkour. “The more people they see who are fine, the more it dilutes the narrative that the vaccines are dangerous.
“We’re an isolated town, but because there’s so many connections within the community, there is the opportunity definitely to get that personal, anecdotal positive story out there.”
Shot is safer than alternative
Dr. Charles Van Zyl, a physician who practices at Harvie Medical Clinic, said it’s clear that getting the shot is statistically much safer than contracting and potentially spreading COVID-19 within the community.
“What I actually have been saying to people is that your risk is indeed unbelievably small; there’s really a very small number of cases worldwide,” explained Van Zyl. “When you actually develop COVID, there’s a very good chance that you will get seriously ill.”
Another concern Van Zyl hears regarding COVID vaccines is the length of trials conducted during the approval process.
“We have to remember that technology and international cooperation is at an all time high,” he explained. “Sharing of important scientific breakthroughs with regard to understanding the virus, technological challenges around vaccine development, et cetera, which, maybe in the past would have been more protected due to regional interest, patent rights, are not applicable this time as the world is in a race against time.”
In fact, some of the most vulnerable members of the local community can speak firsthand to the general safety of other types of COVID-19 vaccines, he added.
“Some of our most frail members of our community are the ones who were most grateful for the opportunity, and without a doubt say that they’ve had no issues,” said Van Zyl. “One elderly person after the other says they have no issues, a sore arm, but that’s it.”
Even in a small, relatively isolated community such as Powell River, getting as many people vaccinated as possible is crucial, he added.
Van Zyl also noted that the public-health-driven vaccination program has limited capacity with regard to rate of vaccination, and AstraZeneca provides, through the help of pharmacy partners, parallel streams to significantly speed up the process of achieving herd immunity.
“It is everyone’s responsibility, not just people living in busy cities,” he said. “Now that we have some significant local experience with vaccination, it really helps when your friend and your neighbour have been vaccinated, and say that they feel good being protected, and have peace of mind. It helps with people’s hesitancy.
“The bottom line is that the quicker we achieve herd immunity the better.”
Easy process
Joseph McLean, administrator of the qathet COVID-19 Awareness Facebook group, is one patient who recently took the AstraZeneca shot, and said he feels happy and healthy.
“It was breathtakingly easy to get the vaccine after all this time watching the progress of the vaccines,” said McLean. The appointment itself lasted about three minutes, he added.
McLean said the jab was brief, and felt like a mosquito bite. “But I didn’t swat the pharmacist,” he noted. “It is a relief, because we’re all trying our best over the past year-plus to take those actions and wear masks in public and wash our hands and do all those things, but a vaccine is a whole other level of protection, and it’s exciting to be part of that.”
McLean said it’s unwise to be dismissive toward those who have anxieties around the AstraZeneca shot, but that data showing the safety of the vaccine ultimately speaks for itself.
“The risk of blood clots from lots of other things are substantially higher,” he said, adding that scientific evidence will never show absolute zero risk for even the most common drugs and everyday activities. “The risk is really minimal.”
With a crunch in the province’s supply of AstraZeneca meaning there is now currently a small number of doses left in pharmacies, McLean said now is a good time for those aged 40 and over to make an appointment.
“If people are thinking about getting it, now is probably the right time just because there is a lot of enthusiasm,” he added.
Those aged 40 and over are currently eligible to register and make appointments at local pharmacies with vaccine supply by contacting them directly.
As a separate option, those 18 and older can register for a public clinic at getvaccinated.gov.bc.ca or by calling 1.833.838.2323. Once registered, patients will be contacted to make an appointment when their age cohort becomes eligible.
