Moderna back on Southwestern vaccine menu

The Moderna mRNA vaccine for COVID-19, which Southwestern Public Health had planned to stop using at its mass vaccination clinics because of an expected shortage in supply, is back on the menu along with the Pfizer mRNA vaccine.

On Tuesday, June 15, Southwestern in a statement said it had been informed by the Ontario Ministry of Health it should expect 14,000 doses of Moderna next week.

As a result, the health unit said, it was expanding eligibility to receive a second vaccine dose to anyone in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford who received their first on or before May 9.

That will become effective on Wednesday, June 16, at 8 a.m.

Vaccination Task Force Program Manager Jaime Fletcher said,  “These are doses that were not previously on our radar for the next two weeks.

“When coupled with the large Moderna shipment headed to our Middlesex-London neighbours, we will have thousands of new appointments in our shared booking system to complete vaccinations sooner than we anticipated.”

The health unit stated adults who’d received any type of COVID-19 vaccine as a first dose, including AstraZeneca, mRNA Pfizer-BioNTECH or mRNA Moderna, were eligible for any type of mRNA for a second dose, as approved by Health Canada, the National Advisory Council on Immunization and Ontario’s Ministry of Health.

Both mRNA vaccines have been shown as effective in protecting against the new Delta Variant, previously known as the India Variant, which was more virulent and deadly than the original strain of COVID-19, Southwestern stated.

Southwestern Medical Officer of Health Dr. Joyce Lock said, “It is not a new practice to offer multiple vaccine brands for when there are supply concerns. Both mRNA vaccines are interchangeable and compatible from a biological perspective – it is like choosing one brand of facial tissue over another.”