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'It's not something they've done before': NACI's 'preferred' COVID-19 vaccine advice reveals a hole in Ontario's communication

'It's not something they've done before': NACI's 'preferred' COVID-19 vaccine advice reveals a hole in Ontario's communication

Canadians were thrown a curveball earlier this month when it came to messaging on COVID-19 vaccinations. The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) put out a statement saying that mRNA vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna were “preferred” over the viral vector-based ones from Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca shot. This news contradicted what Health Canada’s been saying all along - that the best vaccine is the first one you can get in your arm.

It raised questions and confusion about who’s direction Canadians are to follow when it comes to getting vaccinated, and how much power and sway NACI holds.

Who is NACI and why should anyone listen to them?

NACI is a voluntary board of vaccine specialists that has been in place since 1964. Its purpose is to provide guidance to the federal government on the use of vaccines that are currently being used or newly appointed in the country.

NACI is made up of a committee of experts in the field of infectious disease, like epidemiologists, immunologists, social science and public health specialists.

Anna Banerji, an infectious disease specialist at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, says NACI’s job is to review all information around new vaccines and give advice when it comes to implementation. What they don’t usually do is respond to current events.

“Them saying AstraZeneca isn't the best choice versus the preferred choices, all of that is new, it’s not something they’ve done before,” she tells Yahoo Canada News. “They’re not usually an organization that responds in real time.”

NACI and Health Canada have two different agendas. NACI’s is to give advice based on the evidence, while the government’s is to get as many people vaccinated in order to save lives immediately. NACI’s recent statement is based on science, Banerji says, which doesn’t take into considerations things like supply, demand or costs. But on a whole, the situation is complicated and nuanced.

“The way you get out of this (pandemic), especially if there’s a limited supply, is getting as many people vaccinated as possible,” she says. “When you look at the risk of dying of COVID-19 versus the risk of dying from the vaccine, three people have died from the vaccines. It’s not zero risk. Are they wrong for saying what they’re saying? Maybe not, but how do you manage to get people to take a second dose of AstraZeneca if they’re being told it’s not a preferred vaccine?”

Did NACI make a mistake in suggesting 'preferred' vaccines?

Isaac Nahon-Serfaty is an associate professor of communications, with a focus on health communications, at the University of Ottawa. He says we’re living through a unique situation in terms of the pandemic, the vaccine and the overall impact on people, in that we’re learning things in real-time.

“We need consistency and coherency in our experts,” he says. “The problem now is that the experts are learning while the public is learning what’s happening. Everybody is learning.”

Nahon-Serfaty adds that while NACI isn’t a group that’s meant to make statements directly to the public, they are under tremendous pressure.

“I think they felt they had this responsibility of conveying their view to the people,” he says. “Unfortunately, there was a little bit of confusion since it was contrary to the position of the government.”

Last week NACI co-chair Dr. Caroline Quach-Thanh put out a statement, backtracking on the “preferred” vaccinate quote.

“People who did get their AstraZeneca vaccine, mainly when COVID-19 was being transmitted in their community, actually did the right thing,” it read. “They protected themselves and their families against COVID-19 complications.”

To date, nearly 34 per cent of Canadians have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.