Ontario receives ‘limited’ number of new bivalent COVID-19 vaccines

But there is no word yet on when the general public will be able to get the shots aimed at blunting a fall and winter wave.

Thestar.com
Sept. 9, 2022
Rob Ferguson

Ontario has received a “limited shipment” of bivalent COVID-19 vaccines aimed at fighting the Omicron variant, but there is no word yet on when the general public will be able to get the shots aimed at blunting a fall and winter wave.

“Our most vulnerable, including long-term care residents and health care workers, will receive these doses first,” Health Minister Sylvia Jones said Thursday on Twitter.

“More information about when others can book appointments will be available in the coming days,” Jones added.

Her office did not reply to requests for details on how many doses of the Moderna vaccine approved last week by Health Canada were in hand and how quickly they will get into the arms of nursing home residents and others.

The lack of information -- a week after chief medical officer Dr. Kieran Moore told reporters a fall vaccination plan would be unveiled soon -- raised concerns the government is not working hard enough to promote vaccinations at a time when just over 50 per cent of Ontarians have two primary doses and one booster.

“Why are we always so slow?” said New Democrat MPP and health critic France Gelinas (Nickel Belt), contrasting the Ontario rollout with the situation in Quebec where the bivalent vaccine was available at injection centres starting Thursday at noon.

“I have no problem rolling it out into long-term care homes,” added Gelinas. “We all know there’s frail elderly people who live there, but I have a huge problem with (how) we knew this vaccine was coming. Why didn’t we prepare the plan and let people know what the plan is?”

Health officials in Quebec have not recommended the bivalent vaccine for anyone under 30, citing a higher risk of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart, although the National Advisory Committee on Immunization has recommended anyone over 18 due for a booster this fall to get a bivalent shot if possible.

Typically, adults should wait about six months after their last COVID vaccine or infection to get another shot, but local health officials can shorten that period depending on local circumstances, deputy federal chief public health officer Dr. Howard Njoo said last week.

The Moderna bivalent vaccine targets the SARS-Cov2 virus and the original Omicron BA.1 variant that began circulating last December, in a bid to keep pace with evolving strains as best as possible. The BA.5 variant is now circulating widely.

Canada’s first shipment of vaccines was expected to be 780,000 doses with a total of 10.5 million slated to arrive this fall. Those doses will be sent to the provinces for distribution and injection by local health authorities.

In Ontario, Moore has eliminated the five-day isolation period for COVID-19 and replaced it with a 24-hour stay-home rule despite concerns hospitals are already stretched thin with few available beds. Pediatric boosters of the Pfizer vaccine have been available for kids aged 5-11 since last Thursday.