What London residents need to know about getting the bivalent COVID-19 booster dose

Starting Monday, Sept. 26 Ontarians aged 18 and older will be eligible to receive the bivalent COVID-19 booster dose.

Starting Monday, Sept. 26 Ontarians aged 18 and older will be eligible to receive the bivalent COVID-19 booster dose.

Booster doses should be given at an interval of six months between completion of a primary series and a first booster dose or between booster doses, according to the Middlesex London Health Unit.

“This is the one that we feel is important to get because this is the one that's been circulating the most in the community,” said Mary Lou Albanese, the Middlesex London health unit’s director of environmental health and infectious disease.

Albanese said as we head into the fall and winter months the health unit is encouraging people to get vaccinated as there are few COVID-19 health measures in place in the province.

“In the coming months, we are going to see an uptick in the disease in the community. And if it's been three-six months since your last dose your immunity has waned which means it’s gone down and you're more apt to pick up respiratory illness.”

Vishal Mehta, a pharmacist at Yurek pharmacy in London told CTV News that they have seen less of a demand for people looking to get their booster doses.

However, people have begun to have more questions about this particular vaccine, Mehta said.