N.L. preparing for fall COVID-19 booster shots after latest national recommendation
CBC
Newfoundland and Labrador is preparing for another round of COVID-19 vaccine boosters this fall.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization released new recommendations for boosters on Tuesday that suggests anyone who hasn't had a shot within six months of their last vaccination or infection should make an appointment.
"Of course this is especially important for those who are at higher risk for severe disease or people who are pregnant and those who will be providing essential services for the community," Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald told CBC News on Wednesday.
"What the evidence is showing us now is that you will get some waning of your immunity as time goes on and the further out you are from your vaccine. We know that the immunity that you get, if it's just from vaccinations or just from infections and not from a hybrid of both of those, we know that it can wane a little more quickly."
Fitzgerald said the World Health Organization has also recommended that future vaccines have the XBB Omicron strain variant in them.
"We're still waiting for the final approval, of course, of the vaccines that will be used in the fall," Fitzgerald said.
"We are expecting that they will have XBB … antigens in them and that is, of course, what we're seeing circulating in Canada at the moment."
Fitzgerald said COVID-19 infections have been on a somewhat downward trend over the past few months.
"Our hospitalization rates have been holding fairly steady for the past several weeks," she said.
"It's still circulating, it's still out there, but it's at a low to moderate level at the moment."
Fitzgerald said how sick somebody may get really depends on their immune system.
If a person who had minor symptoms during their first time getting COVID-19, it may not be the case the second time around, she said.
She pointed to the flu as an example.
"You could have a flu one year and then you're good for the next year or maybe even the year after that. But after that then you could get the flu again and get quite sick," she said.
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