After yesterday’s announcement from the Ontario Government that the eligibility for third doses of the COVID-19 vaccine would be expanding, Dr. Alexander Summers, Associate Medical Officer of Health with the Middlesex-London Health Unit, spoke today in a media briefing with mayor Ed Holder about what Londoners can expect when it comes to booster shots for COVID-19.
#MLHU is ramping up COVID-19 vaccinations! As eligibility expands for booster doses, increased hours of operation are now in place at Western Fair District Agriplex and Caradoc Community Centre in Mount Brydges. #LdnOnt #Middlesex /1
— MLHealthUnit (@MLHealthUnit) November 4, 2021
On Wednesday, it was announced that those over 70 years old, those who received a full series of a viral vector vaccine that includes two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, as well as Indigenous peoples living on or off reservation and their non-indigenous household members would now be eligible for a third dose.
“In our region that accounts now for about seven to 10,000 people now eligible to receive a third dose with that number climbing and increasing dramatically through December,” Summers continued.
We since the announcement have seen approximately 800 to a thousand
appointments booked for third doses since yesterday’s announcement,
and we anticipate more people will be booking a third dose appointment
at mass vaccination clinics in our community at the Agriplex and at
Mount Brydges in the Caradoc Community Center.
Another topic of conversation during the briefing was the approval of vaccines for children age five to eleven. With the FDA in America having authorized vaccines for children in the age group, Summers expects for Health Canada to approve administration of the vaccine to the five-to-eleven age range by the end of November. Without knowing the exact date, Summers says that the Health Unit will be prepared to begin. Until then, he advises for guardians of children in the determined age range to prepare them:
If you’re a parent, if you’re a guardian, if you’re an uncle, and and, a grandparent, make sure you start having those conversations with your five to eleven year old about the excitement of getting this vaccine. It is going to make a huge difference, as it has in everybody over the age of twelve, for those under twelve, and we look very much forward to the approval.
The briefing also covered this year’s influenza vaccine. All Ontarians are eligible to receive the free influenza vaccine, and Summers clarified that the COVID-19 vaccine and flu vaccine will not have any complications together, even saying that both could be taken the same day. For those who don’t fall into the four demographics for a third dose, Summers also explained that the expansion of the third doses will likely be happening again in 2022.
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