COVID Vaccine-Specific Information
Vaccine Product Information
- Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine - product monograph
- Pfizer-BioNTech - website
- Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine - product monograph
Recommendations for Vaccine Use
- Health Canada - National Advisory Committee for Immunizations (NACI): Recommendations on the use of COVID-19 vaccine(s)
- The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC)- Statement on COVID-19 Vaccination in Pregnancy
- Saskatchewan Cancer Agency - COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine in Adult Patients with Cancer
More Vaccine FAQs
- For healthcare providers:
General Resources Covering many Topics:
- Saskatchewan Health Authority - Vaccine Info for HCPs
- Health Canada - COVID-19 page
- Health Canada - COVID-19 Vaccine page
- National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCCID) - home page
- Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada - home page
Approval for the vaccines is following the usual processes to ensure safety and efficacy. The process could be expedited because:
- more resources were made available
- resources / work were shifted from other projects to focus on the vaccine
- global agencies have been working together and sharing data
- trials were undertaken in areas with high risk of COVID-19 infection so it didn't take long to accrue data
Effectiveness:
The vaccines have been shown to be ~95% effective beginning one week (Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine) to two weeks (Moderna vaccine) after the 2nd dose. Therefore, individuals may not be optimally protected until 1-2 weeks after receiving the second dose. Maximum duration of immunity is not yet known; data continue to be collected.
Safety:
Short-term adverse effects are similar to those experienced with other vaccines and no safety concerns have been identified. Long-term adverse effects are not known, though most adverse effects of vaccines appear fairly soon after the dose.
Saskatchewan is applying a phased approach.
Initial pilot project (mid-December 2020): Regina General Hospital
- Healthcare workers in emergency departments, ICUs, COVID-19 wards, and COVID-19 testing & assessment staff at Regina General and Pasqua Hospitals
Phase 1 (expected end of December 2020): Priority populations at higher risk:
- Healthcare workers
- Staff and residents of long term care or personal care homes
- Residents age 80 years old and older
- Residents over the age of 50 living in remote northern communities
Phase 2 (expected April 2021): Widespread distribution of the vaccine
- General population
Unfortunately, at this time, the duration of protection after receiving one or both doses is unknown. The vaccine clinical trials have only provided us with short-term data. In general, a patient receives the greatest-proportion of short-term protection after the first dose, and the purpose of additional doses is to extend protection over the longer term. However, the mRNA technology for the use in vaccines is new and data continues to be collected.