The province says it has enough mRNA vaccines to meet the demand as it accelerates its rollout to battle the COVID-19 Omicron variant but says there is a shortage of the Pfizer vaccine so in some areas, residents will be getting Moderna.
“While we have ample supply of mRNA vaccines to support our accelerated booster rollout, there is a limited supply of Pfizer given historical uptake,” Ministry of Health spokesperson Alexandra Hilkene told Global News in an email.
“That is why we have requested an additional four million Pfizer doses from the federal government in January, which have yet to be confirmed.”
Over the weekend, the Waterloo and Kingston public health units announced they would only be giving doses of Moderna to those over the age of 30 as they were reserving Pfizer for those in the younger age groups.
The Waterloo Public Health Unit said there was a provincial shortage, although it noted that it had more than enough doses to meet the needs of those aged five to 11.
In Kingston, it was a similar story as the public health unit also said it was out of the Pfizer vaccine due to a shipment delay.
Both the public health units and Hilkene said that mixing the vaccines was not an issue.
“Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines provide strong protection against COVID-19 and variants, and mixing vaccines is safe and effective,” Hilkene said.
Some of the shortage could be due to the fact that the province switched gears last week and opened up the vaccinations to those under the age of 50 ahead of schedule.
Hilkene said both the provincial and federal governments were working together to ensure that the proper supply would be available over the first quarter of 2022.
“We will be working closely with the federal government to understand incoming vaccine supply for January to March, but we have received assurances that there will be enough vaccines for all Ontarians as we continue to rapidly expand capacity and eligibility for booster doses,” Hilkene said.
— with files from Global News’ Paul Soucy