Three-dose vaccine passport | Not before spring, experts say

If the government wants to make the third dose compulsory to validate the vaccine passport, this measure can hardly be implemented before the spring, or even the summer, according to specialists.

Judith Lachapelle
The Press

In January, in one of his first press conferences of the year, the Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dubé, announced his intention to make the third dose compulsory to hold a valid vaccine passport. “I want to be clear: we are going to expand the vaccine passport to three doses,” said the minister. This change will come into effect “in the coming months”, he promised.

A month later, the date of the entry into force of this new rule is still unknown. “I think it is still too early to look at what the new conditions of the vaccine passport would be,” said Mr. Dubé this week. We must, he added, “allow people time to get their third dose”.

For people who have been doubly vaccinated and who haven’t been infected with COVID-19 since December (since Omicron arrived), or who aren’t sure they’ve caught the disease, the answer is simple: “It do not hesitate to go get it, ”said the national director of public health, Dr.^r Luc Boileau.

But for all the numerous but hard to quantify double-vaccinated people who have been infected with COVID-19 since the holidays, the recommendation to wait 8 to 12 weeks before receiving the booster dose postpones the moment when the government should change the vaccine passport requirements.

“Not an emergency”

This is particularly the opinion of D.^r Karl Weiss, microbiologist at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal. “I want to be very clear on one point: everyone is going to have to get their third dose,” he said. But it’s best to let this Omicron wave pass and allow anyone infected in its wake to wait three months before getting a new dose, he adds.

So, a three-dose vaccine passport next summer? “Yes, for example,” says the D^r Weiss. “It’s not an emergency, in my opinion. An administrative element should not interfere with the smooth running of science. We had a lot of Quebecers who had COVID during the holiday season. These people, especially healthy people, have no interest in getting their third dose now. »

There is no point “being vaccinated in butter”, illustrates the D^D Maryse Guay, who also wants vaccinees who have caught COVID-19 not to rush to the booster dose simply to meet an administrative formality.

“If the government persists in its decision, I think it could at least wait until the spring”, assesses the D^D Guy.

All the more so, underlines the D^r Weiss, that if the booster dose, designed against the original strain of SARS-CoV-2, protects well against the Omicron variant, the next vaccines that should be distributed in the spring (the D^r Weiss mentions the month of May) will be better adapted to the evolution of the virus.

The booster dose for people who are doubly vaccinated is particularly important in the elderly, reminds the D^r Weiss. “If you are under 60, in good health and doubly vaccinated, you are almost certain not to have to go to the hospital because of COVID-19”, recalls the microbiologist. “The third dose, on the other hand, plays an essential role for longer-term immunity. In fact, the vast majority of the oldest vaccinated have received their booster dose – a proportion that goes from 78% for those aged 60-69 to 86% for those aged 70 and over, and even to 91% for people who live in a private residence for seniors.

Outside Quebec

“I have the impression that people who are very motivated to get the third dose have gone to receive it, says medical anthropologist Ève Dubé, of the National Institute of Public Health (INSPQ). From now on, we may have more difficult groups to join. »

The appetite of Quebecers for the booster dose compares favorably to the rest of Canada, even if the campaign took longer to take off than elsewhere.

In the rest of the world, Quebec is slightly behind France, where the requirements for the validity of the “vaccination pass” now require the booster dose… except for people who have been doubly vaccinated and who have been infected with Omicron, the French government announced Thursday. .

The announcement of the introduction of the vaccine passport last summer encouraged many people to go to the vaccination center, recalls M^me Dube. “We know that it had an impact on vaccination coverage, particularly among young adults. For the booster dose, the surveys conducted by the INSPQ show that the intention to receive it is lower as the age decreases. Other elements, such as the announcement of the relaxations, the side effects associated with the vaccine and the “perception of the usefulness” of this dose also have an impact on the motivation to go to the vaccination centre.