Maritime provinces ready plans for second COVID-19 booster shots

Details are trickling out from each province and territory as eligibility for a second COVID-19 booster vaccine expands, following a recommendation this week from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI).

Immunocompromised individuals over the age of 12 are already able to receive a fourth COVID-19 vaccine in each of the three Maritime provinces, but NACI says a rapid rollout to other high risk populations should begin soon.

NACI said people over the age of 80 and long-term care residents should be next in line for a second booster. The committee also said a fourth shot should be offered to people between 70 and 79 years of age, and to people from First Nations, Metis, and Inuit communities, six months after their first booster.

Public health officials in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick say more information will be released by the end of this week, or early next week, on each province’s second booster plans.

Michelle Thompson, Nova Scotia’s minister of Health and Wellness, said pharmacies and long-term care facilities would be the province’s primary supervisors of fourth doses.

“I don’t anticipate, given the size of the cohort of individuals that need to be vaccinated, that we would have to go back to mass immunization clinics at this time,” said Thompson.

Along with fourth doses, New Brunswick Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Jennifer Russell said her focus is also on increasing the number of people who’ve received their third shot. As of Saturday, 51.4 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers had received their booster shot.

“We know with waning immunity after that second dose, we’re not protected against Omicron as well as we’d like,” said Russell.

Officials from Prince Edward Island’s Department of Health did not return messages for comment on Wednesday.

Ontario will begin offering fourth doses of COVID-19 vaccines to all residents aged 60 and up Thursday morning.

In British Columbia, a second booster will be offered to long-term care residents, seniors in the community aged 70 and older and Indigenous people aged 55 and older throughout the spring.