Lambton Public Health will open registration to book COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for residents 50 and older on Monday.
The province announced on December 2 that third dose eligibility would be expanded as of December 13. Booster shots will be administered to eligible individuals who have a six-month gap from their second vaccine dose.
Lambton Medical Officer of Health Dr. Sudit Ranade said it's anticipated that many residents in this age group will be quick to book third dose appointments.
"Many of them will not be eligible to receive their boosters until the middle of January because that's the six-month point from when they were immunized but there's a lot of demand in that age group and there's a lot of people in that age group," he said.
Before appointment slots open to the 50 plus age group, Ranade is urging those who are currently eligible to book their third dose appointments. He also said there are indications of a growing number of fully immunized people testing positive for COVID-19.
"That may be a reflection of some waning immunity, especially in the groups of people who were immunized early in 2021 and are now eligible for boosters," said Ranade.
So far, about 8,000 booster doses have been administered in the region.
As for the administration of paediatric vaccine doses, Ranade said the process is going really well.
"We're getting some good feedback on the child-friendly clinics that we're running. People seem to like that," he said.
Ranade said 17 per cent of children aged five to 11 have had their first vaccine dose.
Lambton Public Health reports that 79 per cent of residents five and up have received one vaccine dose while 75 per cent are fully vaccinated.
Meanwhile, Ranade is monitoring the situation in neighbouring communities as health units reimplement restrictions due to rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.
Starting on Friday, the Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit and Windsor-Essex County Health Unit will implement restrictions which limit the number of people at indoor gatherings to 10, and place capacity limits back to 50 per cent at indoor bars and restaurants.
Ranade said the number of hospitalizations, number of cases, and people's ability to follow public health measures will continue to be monitored but there's no "clear threshold" as to what criteria needs to be met in order to reimplement restrictions.
"It's a bit of a judgment call and it's also getting to the point where the interventions that we have are actually harder because they require a lot of cooperation from people that we had early on in this pandemic," he said. "I know people are just exhausted from this so the ability to keep changing and keep shifting according to different rules is being tested."
On Thursday, the Middlesex-London Health Unit, Southwestern Public Health Unit, and Huron Public Health Unit, issued joint letters to recommend safe holiday gathering guidelines. The recommendations include limiting indoor gatherings to no more than 10 people and having those 12 and up to be fully vaccinated.
Ranade said in short, it's best to keep gatherings small this holiday season and have discussions before get-togethers to ensure attendees are comfortable.
