New Brunswick expands eligibility for second COVID-19 booster dose

As of Tuesday, New Brunswickers who are 50 and older can go and get a second COVID-19 booster shot at participating pharmacies.

However, the New Brunswick Pharmacists’ Association's vice president, Paul Bowman, says many of those who are interested in booking another booster may be of age, but not quite eligible due to catching COVID-19.

"Between now and getting their first booster, it seems like, you talk to your friends and family, and certainly over the last couple of months a lot of people seem to have come into contact with the infection," says Bowman.

According to the eligibility guidelines, adults aged 50 and older can get their second booster if it’s been at least five months since their last dose.

Anyone who has been recently infected with the virus should wait three months before getting their fourth shot.

"So, that’s certainly pushing some people back a little further in terms of wanting their fourth dose, but not being currently eligible," says Bowman.

According to numbers released by the province Tuesday, 51.8 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers have received their first booster dose.

It’s a figure the province’s opposition leader says is far from where he believes it should be.

"I think we’re one of the provinces that have been the least aggressive to be honest in really funding an advertising campaign and its benefits," says Liberal Leader Roger Melanson.

Melanson says, based on what New Brunswick is seeing with third doses, he expects the number of fourth doses to also be low.

To date, 93.1 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers have received a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 87.8 per cent have received a second.