Expanded 3rd dose eligibility in Manitoba aims to keep health-care staff at work during 4th wave
CBC
Manitoba has again expanded its eligibility criteria for a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, based in part on the need to prevent mild illness in health-care workers during the province's fourth wave.
"When we are facing a fourth wave and we do know that every health-care worker is critical to being able to provide services to Manitobans, we want to offer this booster to use every tool in the toolbox to support the health-care system," said Dr. Joss Reimer, medical lead of the province's vaccine task force.
People now eligible for a third dose under the health-care worker category include volunteers who have direct contact with patients and First Nations health-care workers like traditional healers and knowledge keepers, Reimer said at a news conference Wednesday.
The province has also opened eligibility for a third dose to people who got full courses of AstraZeneca and the single-shot Johnson & Johnson.
Data shows the protection offered by those brands of vaccines diminishes more quickly than that provided by mRNA shots like the ones from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, Reimer said.
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