Julia Lopez / Staff reporter
In our fight against Covid-19, more people around the world are getting vaccinated with different vaccines. In Canada, some of the vaccines that individuals are receiving includes the Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and the Janssen vaccine. The AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine has been given to many people aged 50 and up, as well as younger people 18 and up during the past few weeks.
The vaccine works by using an adenoviral vector that contains part of the Sars virus’s genetic code, but all the adenoviral genetic code is removed and replaced with the code for Sars virus proteins, allowing it to be taken up into cells and the proteins to produce the Sars virus protein.
The difference of AstraZeneca among the other vaccines, is that it does not have to be store in a refrigerator and can easily be distributed at Pharmacies.
Recently, there have been issues with people taking the AstraZeneca vaccine. In response to an exceedingly unusual blood clot problem due to the AstraZeneca Vaccine, B.C has stopped the vaccinations for younger people. Despite this issue, Alberta, Ontario, and other provinces in Canada decided to lower the age for people getting the vaccine, due to research found by Medical experts.
Several individuals believe that people over the age of 18 should be able to receive the AstraZeneca Vaccine. According to the article “Medical professionals urge B.C. to lower minimum age for AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine after federal approval.” by Eva Uguen-Csenge.
B.C. Dr. Birinder Narang suggests that British Columbia should treat more patients since the health agency has tested AstraZeneca is secure.
“If they found the results have been safe, they should act now since they’ve been waiting since March 29 for them to be released. During that time period there has been a 50-60 percent increase in extreme care admissions in British Columbia.” Says Dr. Birinder.
Narang believes that more people should be vaccinated, and the number of people aged 50 and up is higher than the number of those who are younger that took the shot and got blood clots.
Another Medical expert, explains that the age minimum for people that take the AstaZeneca Vaccine should change.
Jason Cridge, a pharmacist from Victoria says “For every Five-year age group, the chance of dying from a COVID-19 infection is exponentially smaller.” Meaning that Patients aged 50 to 59 have died as a result of their infections, while patients under 50 have a lower mortality rate.
Pharmacies have also been struggling with giving the vaccine to the specific age group with more people wanting to take Pfizer instead. With more cases increasing Doctors say its best to take the shot rather than not.
Sources:
How old do you have to be to get the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in each province?
Alberta begins rolling out AstraZeneca COVID vaccine for those aged 40 or older
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Some provinces lower age eligibility for Oxford-AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine