Manitoba has adjusted its timeline for administering COVID-19 vaccines.

Dr. Joss Reimer, with Manitoba's Vaccine Implementation Task Force made this announcement following news of another vaccine being approved by Health Canada. The use of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for use in our country.

"I'm certainly optimistic that we will be able to offer all Manitobans a vaccine by the end of June," says Dr. Reimer. "The more vaccines that are approved, the more likely that June date becomes, and if multiple vaccines continue to be approved, we might even be able to move it up earlier than that for the first dose."

Dr. Reimer says their timelines are certainly influenced by how quickly the vaccine comes from the federal government. And, that too plays a role in how quickly the second dose can be administered.

"We're comfortable with the evidence that we have today to delay the second dose up to four months," she says. "But we'll be watching the evidence to determine if it continues to be safe to do that."

She notes with some vaccines, such as AstraZeneca, trials showed it was actually more effective if the second dose was delayed.

"Right now the plan is certainly to start dose two when we've completed dose one," says Dr. Reimer. "We have no intention of slowing down or shutting our clinics down but rather would move on to dose two as soon as we can unless there is some data showing us that there is a health benefit for Manitobans to continue to delay the second dose."

This vaccine is manufactured by Janssen Inc. Health Canada received an application from Janssen Inc. for authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine on November 30th. After a thorough, independent review of the evidence, the Department has determined that the vaccine meets Canada's stringent safety, efficacy and quality requirements.

The Janssen vaccine is the first single-dose COVID-19 vaccine to be authorized in Canada, and can be stored and transported at refrigerated temperatures (from 2° to 8°C) for at least three months, facilitating distribution across the country. The vaccine is authorized for use in people over 18 years of age and is a viral vector-based COVID-19 vaccine.

The vaccine was authorized with terms and conditions under Health Canada's Interim Order Respecting the Importation, Sale and Advertising of Drugs for Use in Relation to COVID-19. This process allowed Health Canada to assess information submitted by the manufacturer as it became available during the product development process, while maintaining Canada’s high standards.