Looking for a COVID-19 booster shot? Most Canadians will have to wait

OTTAWA – As some nations expand or accelerate their COVID-19 booster vaccination strategies, public health officials made one point clear on Friday: That’s not something most Canadians need to worry about anytime soon. term.

The booster injections are intended to help people maintain immunity to COVID-19 by giving them an additional dose after the effectiveness of the original injections begins to wear off.

“For most of the population, most people didn’t complete that second dose until a few months ago, so I don’t even expect that we necessarily have to examine that boost for the general population for several months. ”Said Public Health Director Dr. Theresa Tam at a news conference.

Boosters differ from third doses, which are additional injections that follow a person’s first two strokes and are given primarily to people with weaker immune systems who did not initially receive sufficient protection.

Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) has already recommended booster shots for long-term care residents and seniors living in other congregated settings. Boosters should be given at least six months after the initial vaccinations.

Each province and territory has established its own criteria for who can receive a booster shot. In the Northwest Territories, for example, all residents 50 and older in Yellowknife, and 40 and older elsewhere, qualify.

NACI cautioned that the evidence so far does not clarify whether booster vaccines are necessary for the general population. Dr. Supriya Sharma, Health Canada’s chief medical adviser, said Friday that NACI is actively reviewing data on the issue.

The United States has approved booster vaccines for all people over the age of 65, those at risk of being exposed to COVID-19, and people who experienced a severe outcome of the disease. The UK is considering speeding up its schedule for booster shots as daily new case counts continue to rise.

“We are in a slightly different position than other countries regarding the intervals between the first and the second dose,” Sharma said. “A lot of people in Canada had a long interval between those doses, and that will probably serve us quite well in terms of sustained immunity.”

Overall, severe disease outcomes are stabilizing in Canada, Tam said, while the country is showing a “decline” in disease activity nationwide.

Public health officials also had good news for the small percentage of Canadians who experienced a severe allergic reaction shortly after their first injections.

NACI says those people can now safely get second doses of an mRNA vaccine if they are cleared to do so by an allergist. They should be observed for at least 30 minutes, instead of 15, after their second shot.

Of the more than 57 million doses that have been administered in Canada so far, severe allergic reactions have been reported 419 times.

In some cases, it may still be necessary to issue medical waivers for those who cannot get vaccinated again, Tam said.

Despite the more optimistic outlook across the country, a “comprehensive and layered” approach beyond vaccination is still needed for Canada to properly emerge from the crisis, the public health director warned.

However, the federal government has decided to drop its warning against all non-essential international travel, regardless of vaccination status.

The Ottawa travel advisories website now recommends that Canadians be fully vaccinated at least 14 days before traveling abroad. He still advises unvaccinated people to stay home.

“Right now we are in a period of reconsideration of a much more destination or country-specific approach, rather than a more general, global approach,” Tam said, adding that now is not the time to “go free” where whatever you choose.

“What we will be providing in the coming weeks is a more nuanced approach for people who have been vaccinated or not vaccinated, and we will look at the global epidemiological situation to give people more tools to do that assessment.”