The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) has expanded its eligibility guidelines for booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
The committee is now recommending booster shots of mRNA vaccines for people who have received two doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca one, adults over the age of 70, frontline healthcare workers who have had a short interval between their two first doses, as well as to First Nations, Inuit and Métis people.
The most recent recommendation indicates that new evidence suggests that the vaccine’s effectiveness against asymptomatic infections and mild COVID-19 disease may decrease over time, and that a booster dose may help restore protection.
The committee continues to recommend that the booster doses be given six months after receipt of the first two doses.
The committee found no evidence of a general decline in immunity to severe forms of the disease in the general population.
British Columbia has already promised anyone in their province who wants a booster dose of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine that they could have access by May 2022.
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