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When a vaccine for the virus behind COVID-19 is approved in Canada, Ontario will be tasked with vaccinating more than a third of the country’s population – and some medical experts say “question marks” remain about cost-sharing and launch plans.
Ongoing planning work in the province comes as two federally preordered vaccine candidates are showing promise.
On Monday, Moderna announced that its vaccine appears to be 94.5 percent effective, according to preliminary data from the company’s ongoing study, while competitor Pfizer Inc. shared a similar update last week.
“We have a whole team at the Ministry of Health working on the distribution plan,” Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said Monday.
Transportation, cold storage options and other logistics will be part of this process. Ethics will also be at the table, Elliott said, to make sure any vaccine is distributed “fairly and fairly”.
“We will be ready to go as soon as the vaccine is available,” he said.
But despite optimism, others say key questions remain unanswered, in part due to the complex and unprecedented nature of planning the large-scale launch of a new vaccine, which will be in high demand and, at least, potentially short of offer. at first.
Additional costs after the initial purchase
“I’d like to hear a little more detailed explanation of what the priority groups will be,” said Matthew Miller, an associate professor at the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research at McMaster University in Hamilton.
“I think we can understand that there are still question marks about how much vaccine will be available in any given period of time.”
WATCH | Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine appears to be 94.5% effective:
Public Services and Procurement Minister Anita Anand says the government is putting in place contracts to increase refrigeration capacity to store millions of doses of the vaccine. 9:11 am
Healthcare workers and vulnerable populations are likely candidates for the top of the list, Miller said, although that decision will also have to weigh local issues such as the level of health services in different communities.
“Surely costs, I think, are a question mark right now,” he said. “Because in addition to the direct costs of each dose of vaccine required, obviously, there will be costs associated with how these vaccines are actually administered.”
There is a price for every step of the process, from purchasing to refrigeration to administrative expenses, noted Paul Grootendorst, an associate professor at the University of Toronto Leslie Dan School of Pharmacy who has researched the economics of the pharmaceutical industry. .
Grootendorst also speculated that the price per dose the government is paying – which has not been made public – could vary, depending on the final results of the study.
“Suppose the effectiveness turns out to be 70 percent … well, how does the price vary?” she asked.
The feds “can’t reveal” the details of the deal
In a statement, a spokesperson for Public Services and Procurement Canada said it “cannot disclose the details of specific agreements” in order to protect Canada’s negotiating position and commercially sensitive pricing information, as well as to comply with regulations. confidentiality clauses in vaccine agreements entered into to date.
Although the federal government has so far allocated more than $ 1 billion to ensure access to seven major candidate vaccines, some experts estimate that the final figure could be more than three times higher, assuming everyone needs two doses of an effective vaccine.
Canadians I will not pay out of my own pocket get vaccinated, but it is not yet clear what part of the costs Ontario or other provinces will incur to vaccinate residents.
WATCH | The procurement minister says the government is increasing the refrigeration capacity of vaccines:
Public Services and Procurement Minister Anita Anand says the government is putting in place contracts to increase refrigeration capacity to store 33.5 million doses of the vaccine. 1:16
“The real problem that’s happening in the background is how much of this will be covered by federal money versus how much will be covered by provincial money,” Miller said.
“Almost certainly, both the federal and provincial governments will participate in a quota. And I’m sure the main negotiations right now are around what ends up being the percentage split.”
CBC News asked both public utilities and Canadian procurement and Canadian health care about the potential federal-provincial cost-sharing, but received no response within the deadline.
A spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Health also did not provide specific details, but said the province “is working with the federal government and other provincial and territorial partners” to plan the potential delivery of a vaccine.
It costs a drop in the bucket
Regardless of how the costs shake up, Grootendorst said it’s a small price to pay for keeping the virus behind COVID-19 in check.
“If we’re talking about a billion dollars here, or a billion dollars there, that’s a rounding error when it comes to the overall cost of managing a pandemic,” Grootendorst said.
WATCH | With promising vaccine news, residents urged to remain vigilant:
Doug Manuel, an epidemiologist at Ottawa Hospital, says promising news about the effectiveness of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine is welcome, but that doesn’t mean residents should let their guard down. 1:13
“It’s really an order of magnitude lower than the cost to the economy and society, mental health, etc., of having people’s lives distracted by this circulating virus.”
Miller agrees, saying the costs are probably just “a drop in the bucket” compared to the economic and social toll.
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