Ontario has become the first Canadian province to approve a third COVID-19 vaccine dose for vulnerable people amid heightened concerns over the spread of the highly-transmissible Delta variant . Starting as early as this week, booster shots will be given out to those who received transplants, patients with hematological […]
Ontario has become the first Canadian province to approve a third COVID-19 vaccine dose for vulnerable people amid heightened concerns over the spread of the highly-transmissible Delta variant.
Starting as early as this week, booster shots will be given out to those who received transplants, patients with hematological cancers, people who received an anti-CD20 agent as well as residents in long-term care homes, higher-risk retirement homes and First Nations elder-care lodges. The province made the announcement on Tuesday.
This comes days after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized a booster dose for people with compromised immune systems on Thursday. There are also reports that U.S. experts will recommend COVID-19 vaccine boosters for all Americans, regardless of age, eight months after they received their second dose of the shot.
There is growing evidence in support of boosters for immunocompromised people due to the higher risk of waning immunity among them.
Long-term care residents were among the earliest in Ontario to receive their shots.
Donna Duncan, CEO of the Ontario Long Term Care Association (OLTCA), welcomed the province’s decision to offer a third booster shot of the vaccine for long-term care residents to maintain protection amid a fourth wave of COVID-19 fueled by the Delta variant.
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But experts are still divided over the broad use of COVID-19 vaccine boosters among those without underlying problems as the benefits remain undetermined.
“I certainly don’t think we need to mobilize the entire community to get a third dose,” said Dr. Donald Vinh, an infectious disease specialist and a medical microbiologist at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC).
Dr. Samir Sinha, director of geriatrics at Sinai Health and University Health Network hospitals in Toronto, said the issue of a third dose treaded on “complicated territory,” as many countries were still trying to access limited supplies to vaccinate its population with a first and second dose.