Quebec is changing its recommendations for vaccination against COVID-19: only one dose will now be suggested to obtain adequate protection. Immunocompromised people who have never been vaccinated should, however, still receive two injections, according to Public Health.
“A single dose of the new vaccine, administered this fall, is now sufficient for a person to be considered suitably protected,” the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) indicated on Friday.
Thus, people considered vulnerable or more at risk, who have priority during the fall vaccination campaign, will not have to collect two doses. This change “follows a decision by Public Health resulting from a recommendation from the Quebec Immunization Committee (CIQ),” specifies the government.
According to the ministry, this is because the number of vaccine doses “is no longer influenced by the presence or absence of a previous confirmed infection nor by the number of doses previously received”.
Other recommendations concerning possible additional doses of vaccine against COVID-19 “will be disseminated later, depending in particular on the evolution of this disease and the arrival of future variants”, it is nevertheless specified.
Exceptions for certain groups
However, some exceptions remain in place. Immunocompromised people who have never been vaccinated against COVID-19 and children under the age of five remain invited to “receive additional doses depending on the product used and the number of doses already received”.
Separately, the Ministry of Health confirmed Friday that a three-month interval between COVID-19 infection and vaccination “is now accepted to facilitate vaccination in certain circumstances.” However, the time limit recommended by Public Health remains six months, officially.
Due to “the latest reassuring data on the risk of myocarditis or pericarditis”, Quebec is withdrawing its preferential recommendation for the Pfizer vaccine in people aged 12 to 29. Thus, both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines can be used.
Around 830,000 doses of vaccine have been administered by the government since the start of the fall vaccination campaign. This was launched a month ago to the day, October 10.
Health Canada authorized a new version of Moderna’s Spikevax vaccine against COVID-19 in September. These new vaccines replace the so-called “bivalent” vaccines, offered in Quebec since the fall of 2022, which attacked both the Omicron strain and the original strain of the virus.
The new versions of the vaccine currently available this time aim at a specific target, namely the Omicron XBB.1.5 sub-variant, also called the “Kraken variant”, which appeared at the beginning of 2023.
Vaccination is currently rolling out at a rate of 26,000 doses per day across the province. A little less than one in ten Quebecers have received a dose in the last six months. These mainly concern people aged 60 and over whose vaccination is considered to be up to date. In fact, a quarter of seniors have received a dose in recent months, compared to 5% of those aged 30 to 59 and less than 2% of those under 30.
With Pierre-André Normandin