The county says it will also open eligibility for fourth installments to all indigenous residents of the county aged 18 and over at the same time.
“Extending the suitability for amplifiers will offer an extra level of protection against the Omicron and BA.2 variants and, in addition to antivirals, is another tool the province uses to live and manage COVID-19,” she said. Health Minister Christine Elliott in a statement issued Wednesday.
People can get a fourth dose of the vaccine at least five months after their last COVID-19 vaccination.
The vaccination booking portal for the vaccination province will start accepting appointments for the fourth installment at 8 p.m. of Thursday.
People can also call the Provincial Vaccine Contact Center at 1-833-943-3900.
UHN Infectious Diseases Specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch told CP24 that these are targeted measures to prevent serious outcomes in the most vulnerable groups of the population.
“I think it is fair to say that a fourth dose will be beneficial for people who are at the highest risk of hospitalization,” he said. “(National Advisory Committee on Immunization) says that these are people over the age of 80 and of course people who are severely immunocompromised or in long-term care facilities and you can consider people a little younger than that.”
Previously, only residents of care centers and other immunocompromised individuals could get a fourth COVID-19 vaccine.
However, the benefits of a fourth dose of the vaccine appear to be short-lived, with an Israeli study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Tuesday finding that the protective benefits of symptomatic infection for older people begin to weaken four weeks after injection. and almost completely disappear after eight weeks.
The suitability of the new vaccine comes as limited data from the province’s test and sewage signals indicate that Ontario is entering a sixth wave of COVID-19.
The number of people admitted to the hospital and tested positive for COVID-19 increased by 40% on Tuesday compared to a week earlier.
