(Toronto) Ontarians 50 and over will soon be able to reserve their third dose of COVID-19 vaccine and other cohorts will be eligible in January, the government said Thursday.
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore said on Thursday that vaccination was the best defense against the recent increase in cases, but also against the worrying variant Omicron, which is emerging in Canada.
Ontarians aged 50 and over will be able to make an appointment starting December 13 at 8 a.m. for their booster dose. And in January, other cohorts will become eligible, depending on age and risk of COVID-19, with boosters offered between six and eight months after the second dose.
Booster doses are currently available to Ontarians 70 years of age and older, Indigenous adults, transplant patients, healthcare workers and people with compromised immune systems.
The Ontario government’s announcement came as Albertans 60 and over can already reserve their third dose. In Quebec, the booster dose is available for people 70 years of age and over, those who have received two doses of viral vector vaccine and those living in residential centers.
In New Brunswick and Saskatchewan, it is offered to people 65 years of age and over; in the Yukon it’s 50, but it’s 18 in Manitoba, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
A new case of Omicron
The expanded recall plan in Ontario came amid new information about the detection of the Omicron variant in Canada. A Toronto-area public health unit on Thursday confirmed a case of Omicron, the fifth known case in that province.
The Durham Regional Public Health Office clarified that the person tested positive was a close contact of a traveler who had recently returned from a southern African country that Canada deemed at high risk for the variant.
Four cases of Omicron have also been discovered in Ottawa, and more cases have been confirmed in British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec.
The World Health Organization has called this Omicron variant “of concern” and Canada is one of many countries that have put in place targeted travel measures to contain it, although little is known about it. its characteristics, including whether it reduces the effectiveness of the vaccine.
Dr Moore admitted Thursday that it was not yet known whether the third dose will help fight Omicron, but “we do not expect a complete loss of immunity.”
959 new cases Thursday
As of Thursday, also, limited doses of the Johnson and Johnson single-injection vaccine are now offered in Ontario to adults who are allergic to mRNA injections or to unvaccinated people who contact their local public health unit.
This vaccine has been approved by Health Canada, but has not yet been distributed in Ontario, although other provinces have already offered it to some people.
Ontario was reporting 959 new COVID-19 cases and eight virus-related deaths on Thursday. The Ministry of Health specifies that 55% of new cases concerned people not fully vaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown.
The government says 155 people are in intensive care with serious illness linked to COVID-19, 85 of whom are on ventilators. There were also four Saskatchewan patients Wednesday in Ontario hospitals, including three in intensive care.
The government says 87% of Ontarians aged 12 and over have received both doses of the vaccine and 90% have at least one.