U of S doctor calls announced delivery of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses by year's end 'fabulous'

Today's announcement that 249,000 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine will be delivered to Canada before the end of the year is "fabulous news," says Dr. Joseph Blondeau, head of the clinical microbiology department at the University of Saskatchewan.

"I think it's what we've all been waiting for. We being the global community, we being Canadians, we being Saskatchewanites," Blondeau told Garth Materie, host of CBC Saskatchewan's Blue Sky.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement Monday morning.

Trudeau said up to 249,000 doses of the two-dose vaccine will be on hand by year's end to launch a mass inoculation campaign, which is expected to take many months to complete.

The shots are earmarked for long-term care home residents and the staffers working there.

Blondeau said the timeline when more doses will be delivered is key.

He wondered whether 249,000 people would be vaccinated knowing that at least that many doses would be available within a month so those people could get their second dose.

"The only unknown here is what's going to be the next steps in terms of when are we going to see more dosages that are delivered and over what timeline," Blondeau said.

The first doses will arrive as some provinces — notably Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec — grapple with a sharp increase in COVID-19 caseloads and deaths.

Trudeau said these doses will be delivered by the company directly to 14 distribution centres now equipped with the necessary cold storage.

This particular vaccine must be stored at –80 C to –60 C — which will make the logistics of distribution "incredibly complex," Trudeau said.

"But the news there is not all bad, because there is a period of time where it can be out of the freezer and then injected into individuals, which gives you enough time to get these vaccines administered without losing, say, potency," Blondeau said.

The other two vaccines that may be approved soon, one from Moderna and the other from AstraZeneca, only require storage at -20 C and room temperature respectively.

"I think as we see these other two vaccine candidates roll through the approval process and get out there, then I think some of the final details related to what are going to be the conditions for which they can be stored and administered will become a bit more finalized," Blondeau said.

And despite the speed that these vaccines were developed, he trusts the experts to know that they are safe before being approved.

"There's been an enormous amount of collaboration that has occurred between big pharma and smaller companies and people working around the clock in order to come up with a solution to this pandemic," Blondeau said.

He said oversight committees are looking at the data on everything from manufacturing to distribution to the clinical trials.

More importantly, the committees are making sure the vaccines meet all of the criteria to be safe to administer to humans, Blondeau said.

"I think we have to trust that all of these experts that have extensive expertise in vaccine development and distribution and administration are looking for any piece of data that would suggest that the vaccine is not safe and to raise a red flag about that and bring that forward for further discussion and debate."

When it's his turn to be vaccinated, Blondeau said he will be more than ready to get the shot.

"I'll be rolling up my sleeve and not giving it a second thought."