Faced with the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in Quebec and the growing concern of the World Health Organization (WHO) about the Omicron variant, should we open the valves for the third dose? No, because we must above all proceed in a “logical” and “progressive” way, reiterate the experts, while the government announced on Tuesday the expansion of the administration of a “booster dose” to certain groups.
“I’m much more in favor of going logically, with the same sequence we used for the first two doses, because already, in terms of time, it’s much more realistic. The six month interval it moves in time the younger the population. It makes sense like that, ”says Alain Lamarre, professor and researcher specializing in immunology and virology at the National Institute for Scientific Research (INRS).
In Quebec, the minimum interval between the second and third doses is in fact six months, among other things because provincial data show that protection remains good even after this time. In France, Israel, Italy or Singapore, the interval is rather five months. In Uruguay, where 40% of the population has already received their third dose, the latter can be obtained 90 days after the previous one, but in a very different vaccine scenario, ie two doses of the vaccine from Sinovac and the third from Pfizer.
With us, Mr. Lamarre indicates that he would not see the “advantage” of extending eligibility for a third dose to those aged 18 and over, as has been done in particular by Alberta, because “for several young Quebecers , it hasn’t even been six months since they were vaccinated ”.
Same story with DD Maryse Guay, professor in the department of community health sciences at the University of Sherbrooke. “Science is on the move,” she said. She argues that in a few months, the third dose may contain “a separate recipe against the Omicron variant”, noting that the government’s approach is cautious and “realistic” in this sense.
The WHO also announced Wednesday that the Omicron variant appears to have a higher reinfection rate, but causes less severe symptoms. In addition, the laboratories of Pfizer and BioNTech assured that their vaccine was “always effective” after three doses against this variant, but still continue “the development of a specific vaccine” against Omicron, hoping “to make it available. by March, in case an adaptation is necessary ”.
Also a labor issue
On Tuesday, at a press briefing, the Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dubé, recalled that the authorities could not expand eligibility for the third dose too quickly because of the capacity of the health network. “I just want people to understand that we have a balance in [maintenir] “, With” a network which is already fragile, where we cannot go and find nurses that we do not already have in the network, “he said, calling on those aged 60 to 69 to wait until ‘in January to make an appointment.
“I remind you that if people can come and help us, especially those who were already in I contribute! and who would like to come and help us until the Holidays or a little after the Holidays, we will take them with pleasure, ”he said in passing.
The DD Guay agrees with this. “You have to realize that in any case, the network is not yet able to vaccinate everyone now. “She recalls that the vaccination of other age groups will be done after Christmas, which leaves time” to analyze the situation to make the best decisions “. “We give ourselves the time to see what is happening elsewhere, to adjust our decisions,” says the one who is also a medical consultant at the Directorate of Public Health and at the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec.
At INRS, Alain Lamarre affirms that the “personnel challenges” will be numerous with the third dose. “If we opened it up to everyone now, it would be very complicated, especially since some people [à risque] could end up further away because they would have been taken their place by people less at risk. We don’t want that, ”he slips.
“The fact remains that we will have to be flexible. If we see that not everyone makes an appointment in a given age group, we must quickly move on to the next one, a bit like it was done in the first waves. This is what will allow us to go as quickly as possible, and to vaccinate all populations at risk, ”concludes the expert.