Ontario receives bivalent COVID-19 shots

Ontario has received a “limited shipment” of bivalent COVID-19 vaccines aimed at fighting the Omicron variant, but there’s no word yet on when the general public will be able to get the vaccines aimed at mitigating the fall surge and winter.

“Our most vulnerable, including long-term care residents and health care workers, will receive these doses first,” Health Minister Sylvia Jones said Thursday. on Twitter.

“More information on when others can book appointments will be available in the coming days,” Jones added.

Her office did not respond to requests for details on how many doses of the Moderna vaccine approved last week by Health Canada were on hand and how soon they will be in the arms of nursing home residents and others.

Lack of information – a week after the chief medical officer Dr. Kieran Moore told reporters the fall vaccination schedule would be revealed soon — raising concerns the government isn’t doing enough to promote vaccinations at a time when just over 50 per cent of Ontarians have two primary doses and a booster.

“Why are we always so slow?” said New Democrat MPP and health critic France Gélinas (Nickel Belt), comparing Ontario’s performance to the situation in Quebec where the bivalent vaccine was available at injection centers starting Thursday at noon.

“I have no problem distributing it to long-term care homes,” added Gélinas. “We all know there are frail old people living there, but I have a big problem with (how) we knew this vaccine was coming. Why didn’t we prepare the plan and let people know what the plan is?”

Health officials in Quebec have not recommended the bivalent vaccine for anyone under 30, citing a higher risk of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart, although the National Advisory Committee on Immunization has recommended anyone over 18 should get a booster this fall to get a bivalent. shot if possible.

Typically, adults must wait about six months after their last vaccine or COVID infection to get another shot, but local health officials can shorten that period depending on local circumstances, said last week the deputy federal head of public health dr. Howard Njoo.

Moderna’s bivalent vaccine targets the SARS-Cov2 virus and the original Omicron BA.1 variant that began circulating last December in an effort to keep pace with emerging strains. The BA.5 variant is now in wide circulation.

Canada’s first vaccine shipment was expected to be 780,000 doses with a total of 10.5 million scheduled to arrive this fall. Those doses will be sent to the provinces for distribution and injection by local health authorities.

In Ontario, Moore has eliminated the five-day isolation period for COVID-19 and replaced it with a 24-hour stay-at-home rule, despite concerns that hospitals are already stretched thin. Pfizer’s pediatric vaccine boosters have been available for children aged 5-11 since last Thursday.

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