Has it been at least five months since your last COVID-19 vaccine or infection? Then you’re eligible for a booster dose and should get it now, says the province’s acting deputy chief medical officer of health.
Don’t wait for the province to announce third or second boosters for certain age groups, or a fall vaccination campaign.
“We’re trying to get away from the approach of trying to count boosters,” said Dr. Yves Léger.
“We are in line with the current NACI recommendations regarding fall boosters, which is to encourage all New Brunswickers to get a fall booster dose, irrespective of the number of previous doses.”
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) recommended in June that people at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19 infection should be offered a booster shot this fall, regardless of how many boosters they’ve previously received. That includes people aged 65 and older.
People aged 12 to 64 “may be offered” a fall COVID-19 booster as well, the federal advisory body said.
The booster doses may be offered six months after a person’s previous COVID-19 vaccine dose or COVID infection, NACI recommended.
“However, a shorter interval of at least [three] months may be warranted in the context of heightened epidemiologic risk, as well as operational considerations for the efficient deployment of the program.”
It’s been five months since New Brunswick began offering a second booster dose to people aged 50 and older, provided at least five months had passed since their last dose, and about two-and-a-half months since people aged 18 and older could get their second booster.
Although the province used to recommend waiting three months after a COVID-19 infection before getting a vaccine, it has increased that to five to “align” with NACI, Léger said.
“So anyone who is five months or more from a previous dose or infection [is] encouraged to get a booster dose in the fall in anticipation of increased activity during the fall or winter months,” he said.
2,100 opted for bivalent booster so far
People should not wait for Moderna’s Omicron-specific booster to become more widely available in New Brunswick, said Léger.
“Anyone who is eligible for a booster dose should certainly consider getting the vaccine that’s available to them,” he said.
The Spikevax bivalent booster targets both the original coronavirus and the Omicron variant BA.1 that emerged late last year and drove the largest wave of infection and hospitalization in the pandemic.
“Bivalent vaccines certainly are a new product and they show promise of possibly having a better immune response, but we don’t know yet if that necessarily translates into better protection,” said Léger. “Those studies aren’t available yet. Once the vaccine starts to be used, then we’ll have more data that confirms whether or not it provides stronger protection or not.
“But certainly we do know that our currently available vaccines — what we call our monovalent vaccines, or the original vaccines we have — we certainly know that those are very good vaccines. They still provide very strong protection against those severe outcomes,” including hospitalizations, ICU admissions and death.
Health Canada approved the bivalent on Sept. 1 for people age 18 and older.
As it stands, only New Brunswickers 50 and older, those aged 12 to 17 who are immunocompromised or have a high-risk medical condition, and those aged 18 and older who live in a First Nations community are eligible for the bivalent vaccine, as long as five months have passed since their last vaccine dose or a COVID-19 infection.
The province will look at expanding eligibility once its supply increases, said Léger. “That should be hopefully in the near future.”
He could not say how soon or to how broad access could be. It will depend on how many more doses it receives from the federal government and when, he said.
Roughly 2,100 New Brunswickers have received the bivalent vaccine since it became available Sept. 14, said Léger.
People living in long-term care will be offered a bivalent booster in October, the province has said.
Vaccination rates higher than national averages
As of Tuesday, 21.6 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers have received their second booster.
That’s up from 17 per cent on Sept. 11, when the national second booster average was 13 per cent, according to the most recent figures available from the Public Health Agency of Canada.
New Brunswick’s first booster rate was also higher than the national average at that time, at nearly 51 per cent, compared to about 50 per cent, PHAC figures show. The province’s first booster rate is now 53.7 per cent, according to the Department of Health.
The percent of New Brunswickers who completed their primary two-dose series as of Sept. 11 was also higher than the country’s average, at roughly 84 versus 82.
As of Tuesday, 90.5 per cent of eligible New Brunswickers have received their first dose and, 85.4 per cent have received their second dose, according to the Department of Health.
