URGENT: Novavax Advocacy in Canada

Hi, it’s Beth from Navigating Healthcare Canada.  I’m a spousal care partner for my husband who is   an immunocompromised senior and we live with  my octogenarian and nonagenarian parents. There are 2 main issues that I and other  Canadians have when it comes to COVID vaccination: As the youngest member of an older family unit I  am concerned by the difficulty I have accessing   COVID vaccination in general and Novavax specifically. Vaccination is a necessary component  of a broader COVID prevention strategy,   and it shouldn’t be difficult to access. I have spent significant amount of time on  the phone with the provincial gatekeepers   of COVID vaccinations trying to get special  dispensation to be vaccinated myself. I’m 59   and in British Columbia only certain groups  were ‘allowed’ to access COVID vaccination in   the spring. That didn’t include family care  partners actually living with vulnerable   family members. This is different from  other vaccinations I have previously   been encouraged to get, such as the flu  shot. When the government response to   COVID is ‘vax and relax’, why is  access to vaccination throttled? So why Novavax? Novavax is the vaccine of choice for the  immunocompromised and families for 2 reasons:   it provides better coverage of variants and it  doesn’t result in as many side-effects which   can be significant for certain populations.  Limiting access to Novavax was discouraged   in the recommendations of the National Advisory  Committee on Immunization recommendations (NACI): “Public health programs should consider  the impact of limiting access to only   one COVID-19 vaccine platform on  vaccine acceptance and uptake.” Despite this, the ‘feds’ have said they won’t be  ordering Novavax, in favour of the mRNA vaccine   platform only. In a recent response to a  citizen inquiry about Novavax, the Public   Health Agency of Canada cites ‘low uptake’ as  a reason why they are failing to order Novavax. So provincial governments  have throttled vaccination   rates through restrictive gatekeeping  policies and then PHAC blames citizens   for poor uptake and won’t order  Novavax. This is unacceptable. So what can we do? It’s imperative that we:  Let our elected provincial officials and public  health know that they need to improve access   for all COVID vaccinations... and... Let our elected federal officials,   public health and NACI know that we expect access  to Novavax along with the mRNA vaccinations from   Pfizer and Moderna and that this needs to  be in conjunction with better provincial   access to COVID vaccination. They need to hear from us. Find a link to a Google Doc template written  by Sparrow on Twitter in the video description   below. Call and write. Share this information  on social media and with mainstream media.