in Chatsworth, Grey Highlands, Southgate, West Grey
October 20, 2022
The Grey Bruce Health Unit announced that starting this week, eligible individuals 12 years of age and older can receive a booster dose of the Health Canada-approved Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent COVID-19 vaccine – developed to target the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants – at Public Health and local GO-VAXX vaccine clinics.
Public Health is also working with community partners to make this bivalent booster available via primary care practitioners and area pharmacies.
The Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty vaccine is the second bivalent COVID-19 booster to be authorized by Health Canada. It’s the first to be approved for children and youth aged 12 to 17. Health Canada has also authorized a Moderna Spikevax bivalent vaccine as a booster dose for individuals aged 18 and over.
“Staying up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccinations continues to be one of the most effective ways to protect individuals, their families, and communities from serious outcomes as a result of COVID-19, especially individuals aged 65 and over or those at high risk of severe illness,” says Lindsay Johnston, Program Manager, Vaccine Preventable Diseases, at the Grey Bruce Health Unit.
“Having bivalent boosters available to residents in Grey-Bruce is good news as we head further into the fall respiratory season, as these vaccines are expected to trigger a strong immune response to the most dominant strains of COVID-19 now in circulation within our communities.”
Health Canada’s approval on Oct. 7, 2022, of the Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent vaccine as a booster dose for individuals aged 12 and older came after a thorough and independent scientific review of the evidence that determined the booster is both safe and effective.
Following Health Canada’s approval, the provincial government announced on Oct. 13, 2022, that all Ontarians aged 12 and over would be eligible to receive a bivalent booster starting Oct. 17, 2022, if they have completed their primary COVID-19 vaccine series.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) now recommends that Omicron-targetting vaccines be offered to individuals aged 12 to 64 as a booster dose. NACI also strongly recommends that all individuals 65 years of age and older and also individuals 12 years of age and older who are at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19 should be offered a fall booster dose regardless of the number of booster doses previously received. An interval of six months is recommended between a previous COVID-19 vaccine or infection and a booster dose.
The provincial government says individuals at high risk of severe COVID-19 illness and seniors aged 65 and over are strongly advised to receive their booster dose three months after their last dose.
All Ontarians aged five and older are now eligible to receive a COVID-19 booster. Children aged five to 11 can receive a monovalent vaccine as their booster dose. Infants and children aged six months to five years are eligible for a primary vaccine series only.
To book a vaccine appointment, visit the online COVID-19 Vaccination Portal or call the Provincial Vaccine Contact Centre at 1-833-943-3900.
For a list of our upcoming vaccination clinics in Grey-Bruce, visit Public Health’s online COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic Schedule.
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