Ontario expands COVID-19 booster shots to 2.75 million residents
Thestar.com
Nov. 4, 2021
It’s booster time for almost three million Ontarians at higher risk for COVID-19 infection as the province moves closer to third shots for everyone next year.
Anyone 70 or older and all those who got two doses of AstraZeneca qualify for third vaccine shots once they are at least six months past their second dose, the provincial government said Wednesday.
Also on the list are front-line, health-care workers, designated essential caregivers for loved ones in nursing homes or other congregate settings, along with First Nations, Inuit and Métis adults and any members of their households.
Boosters will be with the Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccines, which are considered more effective than AstraZeneca or its equivalent Covishield.
“This virus is not going away,” Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kieran Moore told a news conference at the legislature, noting booster shots will not be required for the vaccine passport system.
“For some groups, two doses may not be enough to achieve a high level of protection, or immunity can decrease gradually over time, leaving them at higher risk for serious outcomes.”
Bookings begin Saturday morning at 8 a.m. through the provincial appointment system, public health units, select pharmacies and through hospitals for their eligible employees.
Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases specialist and a former member of the government’s disbanded vaccination task force, called the plan “pretty reasonable.”
People who got one dose of AstraZeneca or Covishield followed by a second shot of Pfizer or Moderna do not qualify, nor do those who got two doses of Pfizer or Moderna or a mix of the two, but their turn will come in 2022. .
“The province is planning to expand eligibility for a booster dose to all Ontarians aged 12 and over in the coming months,” Moore said.
He issued a reminder for people who have not had a first or second COVID vaccination to do so as an “urgent priority” to improve community protection levels heading into winter when respiratory viruses spread more easily.
The current eligibility is based on data showing immunity in the affected groups is waning, with those who got AstraZeneca or its equivalent Covishield facing a drop -- from 90 to 75 per cent -- in the vaccine’s ability to prevent infection.
Anyone who got a shot of the single-dose Janssen vaccine, also known as Johnson & Johnson, also qualifies for a booster. Officials said some Ontarians may have been given Janssen shots in the U.S. or elsewhere.
The expansion in boosters follows recommendations to the provinces last Friday from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization.
In the case of AstraZeneca and the related Covishield vaccine, for example, the first recipients who got their two shots last winter and spring will be eligible later in November.
Booster shots are encouraged -- especially for people with underlying conditions --but not mandatory and no shortages of vaccines are expected, officials said.
New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath said she hopes the boosters will be rolled out more smoothly than first and second shots were earlier this year.
“It was the Hunger Games. People waited in line for hours.”
Moore said levels of community immunity to COVID are considered high enough that there is no need at present to make them a requirement for using the vaccine passport system to get into restaurants, gyms, theatres, sports and other non-essential establishments.
“Two doses will be acceptable to get you into any of the venues that currently have restrictions on them for vaccine certification.”
But three doses will likely become standard “down the road” and it’s possible fourth doses will be needed a year from now -- and perhaps every year.
“This virus is going to be persistent and most likely will become an annual winter virus,” Moore said.
The province will follow the data to determine when the next round of boosters will be offered and who will get them, he said.
The boosters should help prevent breakthrough infections in the fully vaccinated, with primary shots still providing high protection against severe illness from COVID-19, officials said in a background briefing.
Anyone 70 and older would get a standard dose of Pfizer or Moderna. For those under 70, it would be a standard 30 microgram dose of Pfizer or a 50 microgram dose of Moderna, which is half the standard adult dose, Moore said.
To date, boosters have been given to 65 per cent of the 250,000 eligible Ontario residents, such as transplant recipients, patients with blood cancers under active treatment, and residents of nursing and retirement homes and seniors’ apartment buildings.