That included the results of testing doses from the two lots that were expiring, and modelling data from the company that showed the doses would remain stable for at least the next month.
"We've been really clear that we're making decisions based only on science and evidence, and this is no exception," Sharma said.
But the decision to adjust the expiration date at the 11th hour on the weekend led many Canadians to express frustration and concern about whether it was truly being made because of science, or because of a policy failure to use the doses in time.
"The feedback I'm getting is this idea that it was done out of desperation," said
"That's the way it looks from the outside. It's a really good example of why context matters."
Pharmacologist
"Most of the time when these expiry dates are extended, people don't get to know about it," she said.
She said vaccines and other medications are tested constantly to determine how they perform in various scenarios, including past their expiration.
"For all we know we might next year find out that based on long-term shelf life studies that in fact the vaccines are totally OK for an entire year, so maybe for future batches the expiry date will be a year," she said. "We just don't know this yet, because these vaccines are so new."
The
Sharma said there are no other requests to adjust expirations for COVID-19 vaccines, but also noted that doses expiring is not a big issue when people still want more doses than we have in our supply.
It was an issue for these doses because
Sharma said she can understand the perception that the decision was made out of desperation but said that is not something
"I mean, I think it would have been better if the submission came to us earlier," she said. "It only came to us on
Caulfield said communicating scientific decisions in a pandemic is really hard, but doing it well is also critical.
"When I first heard this story my immediate reaction was anything that invites doubt, anything that injects more skepticism into the calculus, for those that are sitting on the fence (about getting vaccinated) is problematic," he said.
More than two-thirds of eligible Canadians are now vaccinated with at least one dose. Caulfield said
The impact of framing how we talk about vaccines matters "more and more" right now, he said.
Dr.
"Yeah, it will come at the last minute but that's that's a pandemic thing," she said. "I have absolute faith in
— with files from
This report by
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