B.C. residents likely to be given choice for second dose following AstraZeneca vaccine

B.C. health officials say residents who received the AstraZeneca vaccine for their first dose may be given a choice as to what vaccine they receive for their second.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Thursday there are many studies happening right now around the possibility of mixing COVID-19 vaccines.

“I know some people have concerns about using that term ‘mix and match,'” Henry said at a briefing. “And it is something that is an important consideration because there may be benefits to using two different types of vaccines.

“And one of the things that we are learning is that the AstraZeneca vaccines do seem to have a stronger cell immunity response — those cells that help us have a long-term memory. So it may be an advantage to have one of each of the types of vaccines that we have available now.”

However, Henry said they don’t know the answer to that yet. There are studies being done in B.C. and a big study in the U.K.

They hope to have some data from that research by the end of May.

Henry said officials hope to give people who had the AstraZeneca shot a choice for their second — whether that is AstraZeneca, Pfizer or Moderna.

“And we’ll be watching that really carefully.”

3:42 Symptoms of B.C. woman who developed rare blood clot following AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine

A B.C. woman in her 40s became the first person in the province to be diagnosed with a rare blood clot disorder following a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Henry said it was the first case of vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenic, or VITT, that they have seen since beginning the vaccine program. The woman is stable and is receiving treatment in the Vancouver Coastal Health region.

Henry said this is very rare, but VITT is associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine. So far, research shows it affects about one in 100,000 doses.