Ontario may expand third COVID-19 vaccine dose eligibility this week, health minister says

Health Minister Christine Elliott says that the Ontario government is considering expanding third dose eligibility to more age groups amid concerns about the new Omicron variant and will have “more to say later this week.”

Ontario’s current guidelines limit third dose eligibility to a handful of groups making up about 20 per cent of the province’s population, including those over 70, people who received two doses of the Astra Zeneca vaccine, immunocompromised individuals, Indigenous Ontarians and residents in long-term care and retirement homes.

But there are now increasing calls to accelerate the rollout of third doses before the Omricon variant has a chance to spread widely in Ontario.

The province is currently sitting on a supply of 3.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

“We are urging more Ontarians to please come forward and be vaccinated and we're also looking at other age groups for the booster,” Elliott told reporters at Queen’s Park on Monday morning. “We'll have more to say about that later in the week because we want to have that extra layer of protection.”