Chatham-Kent's Medical Officer of Health has a simple message for teens who are now eligible for a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine: get it.
Dr. David Colby gave the booster doses for eligible youth his full support while speaking to CK Mornings on 94.3 CKSY on Friday. You can hear the full interview by clicking here.
But the message is not as clear from Health Canada or the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) yet.
The province announced plans earlier this week to open up eligibility for the 12-17 year old age group starting Friday, February 18, based on the advice of Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health and the Ontario Immunization Advisory Committee (OIAC).
That's a stronger recommendation than NACI and Health Canada have provided up to this point, though.
In January, NACI recommended the use of booster shots for youth who may be at higher risk of severe COVID-19 disease due to biological or social risk factors. It also noted that based on preliminary safety data, "no concerns have been noted following booster doses," but NACI has not yet made a recommendation when it comes to booster doses for fully healthy youth aged 12-17.
As for Health Canada, it has only officially authorized booster doses for individuals 18 years of age and older, noting that for now, "recommendations made for the use of booster doses in adolescents are off-label."
Dr. Colby responded to the lack of full approval for booster doses in youth from NACI and Health Canada by saying he fully expects them to get on board, eventually.
"The vaccine has been approved by Health Canada for that age group. They haven't made a specific comment on the booster, but this is official policy for Ontario," said Dr. Colby. "This is an example of basically just waiting for a piece of paper. We already know what the situation is, it's not going to be something that becomes dangerous for that age group. We know the vaccine is safe and effective."
Dr. Colby said it's important for people to get three doses of the vaccine because of one key factor: Omicron.
"Before Omicron, two doses worked great... they prevented transmission of this infection and they prevented severe outcomes," said Dr. Colby. "Omicron is so much more infectious that you need three doses to have any effect on transmission. That's why Omicron swept through like a brush fire."
According to Dr. Colby, three doses of approved COVID-19 vaccines provides approximately 60 per cent protection against infection and upwards of 90 per cent protection against severe outcomes like hospitalization or death.
Dr. Colby said that is compared to almost zero per cent protection against transmission and about 75-80 per cent protection against severe outcome for people with only two doses of the vaccine.
"We want everybody to get that third dose and that's why it has been recommended in Ontario for 12-17-year-olds," said Dr. Colby.
Despite Dr. Colby's resounding support for the booster doses for youth, the Medical Officer of Health for the Lambton Public Health Unit seemed a little more cautious in his approach.
Dr. Sudit Ranade said Thursday that “if you’ve already had two doses and you’re a healthy 12 to 17-year-old, you’re well protected against being hospitalized so what’s the additional benefit you get on top of that with the booster? We don’t know. " he said. "If [Health Canada] were to approve it... we would have some idea of what that evidence is, so right now it’s really about personal choice and making it available but it’s really challenging to say what the overall benefit will be in that population."
Booster doses will be available for eligible 12-17-year-olds in Chatham-Kent from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Wallaceburg and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Bradley Centre in Chatham on Saturday.
Walk-ins and booked appointments will be accepted 168 days after the second dose was administered.
You can visit ckpublichealth.com/clinics for more clinic dates.
