Fitzgerald pleads with doctors for help with N.L. COVID-19 booster campaign

Newfoundland and Labrador's chief medical officer of health is asking physicians to help with the COVID-19 booster vaccination campaign as public health contends with a surge of cases driven by the Omicron variant.

In a letter sent to physicians on Monday, Dr. Janice Fitzgerald said the booster dose is an effective tool for combating COVID-19 – particularly the Omicron variant – but that the province's vaccination system needs help getting the shot into arms.

"Public health capacity is strained due to case and contact management and the ongoing pediatric vaccination campaign," she said. "Therefore, I am requesting your support to administer booster doses to eligible members of the population."

In her letter, Fitzgerald said physicians can choose to administer the vaccine in their own clinic, their own mass clinics or in mass clinics set up by the regional health authorities.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association declined an interview on Tuesday, but in a statement spokesperson Jonathan Carpenter said the association is happy to support the accelerated campaign.

"We are sure many doctors will participate," Carpenter said. "Of course doctors also have to balance other important services they provide to patients as well."

According to the Department of Health, as of Monday, 28,184 people in Newfoundland and Labrador had received the booster.

After the first vaccination campaign, which saw more than 92 per cent of the N.L. population ages 12 and up get vaccinated, the mass clinics began to wind down. 

Pharmacies have been tasked with administering booster doses while mass vaccination clinics ramp up again. Long lines formed outside some pharmacies on Monday and Tuesday, as many scrambled to get the booster.

Supply is also strained, with 170,000 people now eligible to receive the vaccine after the booster time line was changed from 26 weeks to 22 weeks.

"The supply is improving. Last week was very tough to try and get any. There was an additional 20,000 doses of vaccine that arrived in the province on Saturday, and those have been distributed through each of the [regional health authorities] and now making their way into pharmacies," Janice Audeau, president of the Pharmacists Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, told CBC on Tuesday. 

Audeau said more doses of the vaccine are expected either Tuesday or Wednesday.

The National Advisory Committee of Immunization recommends those ages 18 to 29 receive a booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine over the Moderna vaccine as a booster. Those ages 30 and up may receive either vaccine.

In her letter, Fitzgerald said the Pfizer vaccine will not be available for physicians to administer due to limited supply, and those ages 18 to 24 should be referred to public health clinics instead.