Ontario is set to make a decision early next week about expanding eligibility for the fourth dose of COVID-19 Vaccines, amid a seventh wave of the virus, the province’s top doctor said on Thursday.
The pressure on Ontario to expand eligibility for a fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine extends beyond people age 60 and older, immunocompromised people and indigenous populations, as has Quebec. That province has opened up eligibility to all adults.
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore He said in an interview that he expected news on “both whether and how” to expand the rollout would come next week, but said he’s most concerned about the number of people who have just Have not taken the third dose till now.
“Out of the five million people who haven’t even received their first booster, many of whom are well six months after their last dose, one million of them are over the age of 50 and we know that age can really be affected by COVID-19. is an important risk factor for , serious consequences and hospitalization,” Moore said.
“That’s why we’re asking first, before we open any more, one million, all five million but over 50 million who haven’t come forward, please consider getting vaccinated in the month of July.”
Moore said significant protection against serious consequences for 59 people and those under the second booster could not be given because they were not at risk for serious consequences.
“We always have a risk-based strategy and a risk-based communication on vaccination rollout and if those (currently eligible) groups stop coming forward, and we see that the number of patients coming forward for vaccination goes down. If so, we will increase the eligibility criteria,” he said.
Ontario and Quebec are experiencing seventh waves of COVID-19, but health officials in both provinces are predicting they will peak soon.
Quebec’s director of public health, Dr. Luc Boileau, said on Thursday that the highly infectious omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are well established in Quebec and behind cases and hospitalizations, indicating it may peak this month. Will happen.
“We expect growth to moderate in the month of July, but there are uncertainties,” he said. “The curve is slower than it was a week ago, so it’s a small sign that we may be getting to the other side of it in the near future.”
In Ontario, the number of cases, positivity and hospitalizations were all rising. Moore said he expects Ontario to see the peak of the wave next week.
Moore said that if people decide to take their third dose now, it won’t stop them from getting a new vaccine in the fall, should they become available.
Several vaccine makers are rushing to develop formulas that can target Omicron, and Moore said it hopes they are available in the fall. Ontario plans to roll back a mass vaccination strategy for people at risk if so-called bivalent vaccines become available and to vaccinate up to 100,000 people a day.
Moore said that if a bivalent vaccine is not available on that timeline, there is still an “adequate” supply of the original Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
Quebec’s Health Minister Christian Dubey encourages Quebecers to get their own COVID-19 booster shot. He said he was considering waiting for his fourth dose until September, when a more effective vaccine became available.
Instead, Dubey, who is 65, decided to get promoted on Thursday. “It has been over three months (since my last dose). I am in the category of people that if I caught it, I could be in more trouble than someone who is 25 or 30 years old,” Dubey Said. If necessary, she will get another dose in the fall after three to four months have passed.
“I think when it comes to booster doses, with the public health recommendations, I was more comfortable getting it now. And I think others should do the same,” he said.
Officials said that despite the current uptick in COVID-19 indicators, they do not plan to reimpose new public health orders, such as making masks mandatory on public transport. Instead, officials urged those who are infected with COVID-19, those who follow isolation guidelines and who haven’t received a vaccination booster, to make an appointment.
“I think the whole world is fed up with COVID, but I think we said we need to live with this COVID,” Dubey said on Thursday, adding that the situation is considered under control.
Boileau said one of the factors driving the transmission is that infected people are not respecting the province’s 10-day isolation rules from the moment symptoms appear. He said infected people should spend the first five days at home, then wear masks outside for the next five days.
“Basically, this is what explains the current wave: the fact that those who have (COVID-19) are passing it on to others,” Boileau said. “Obviously, a lot of people are not respecting (the rules) and it would be a good thing if they do.”
On Thursday, Quebec reported 1,534 people hospitalized with COVID-19, an increase of 37 the day before. Officials said 43 people were in intensive care, an increase of three. They reported a further 16 deaths linked to the disease.
A weekly update released Thursday by Public Health Ontario showed a 20 percent week-on-week increase in cases, a 8.4 percent increase in the positivity rate to 11.2 percent, and indicated hospitalizations and deaths were rising. .
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