Publication date: July 1, 2022 • 1 day ago • 3 min read • 23 comments Canada’s public health chief said booster shots could help reduce severe illness if the country sees a resurgence of COVID-19 in the fall and winter. Photo: Blair Gable/REUTERS

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The strong decision by BC health officials to limit who gets fourth doses of the COVID-19 vaccine appears to be at odds with the advice of Canada’s chief medical officer.

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Despite continued pressure to change its stance, the province only gives fourth doses to people aged 70 and over, Indigenous people over 55 and people in long-term care. These people can receive the fourth dose six months after their last booster dose. Canada’s public health chief Theresa Tam warned Thursday that there could be an increase in COVID-19 cases in the coming weeks due to the highly contagious Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants being released, which evade immunity more than previous ones variations. That’s why he urged those behind on their boosters to catch up now. She and Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos stressed the importance of the updated vaccination schedule, noting that 40 percent of Canadians have yet to receive a booster after their two basic shots, putting Canada behind other G7 countries when it comes to three doses. .

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Tam also warned of a potential resurgence of COVID-19 in the fall and winter, and said booster shots could help reduce serious outcomes and ease potential strain on the health care system. The National Immunization Advisory Committee has advised jurisdictions to prepare to offer another round of shots to people at increased risk of severe COVID-19 illness, regardless of the number of booster doses they have already received. This includes people age 65 and older, residents of long-term care or assisted living facilities, and people age 12 and older with an underlying medical condition that puts them at high risk of severe COVID-19. Neither Health Minister Adrian Dix nor provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry was available for an interview Thursday. Henry told CBC’s On The Coast last week that the remaining stockpile of COVID-19 vaccines in B.C. it has priority for the approximately 1.2 million eligible people who have not yet received a booster shot.

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“All adults should take that third dose,” Henry said. “There are about 1.2 million people in B.C. who had received two doses who did not receive the first booster. I would encourage people to do it now so we can use this vaccine before it runs out, and really focus the fourth dose, that extra boost, on those people who really need it.” Dr. Brian Conway, medical director of the Vancouver Center for Infectious Diseases, said that while he agrees that millions of British Columbians should be prioritized to get their third dose, the province’s messaging around the fourth dose is out of step with other provinces and as such, it is confused. Ontario, for example, offers fourth doses to people aged 60 and over and Indigenous people over 18, as long as at least three months have passed since their first booster. In Quebec, anyone over 18 can get a fourth jab.

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“I think it’s important that public health authorities at the national level, through provincial and territorial leadership, come together and try to achieve some kind of consensus. This will be less confusing,” Conway said. “I think the danger of this current piecemeal approach to fourth doses is that it reduces confidence in the vaccine program in general.” According to Public Health Canada data, nine per cent of Canadians, or about 2.9 million people, have received both booster shots for COVID-19. About 44 per cent of Canadians aged 70 and over have received all four shots. Compared to other provinces and territories, British Columbia has the second-lowest percentage of people vaccinated with four doses at just over 5%, the data show. BC Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau said with hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses nearing their expiration date, the government’s approach defies logic. “If there are hundreds of thousands of vaccines (doses) ready to be thrown away by this government, it makes no sense for them not to make these four doses available to the people who want them,” he said. from The Canadian [email protected]

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