All of Canada is now officially considered to be in the sixth wave of COVID-19confirms federal public health nearly two weeks following Quebec entered this phase of the pandemic.
“Yes, we can say that we are in the 6e vague, in general, in Canada, because there is an increase in cases of COVID-19 everywhere, ”said the Dre Theresa Tam, chief administrator of the Public Health Agency of Canada, who was answering questions from reporters on Tuesday.
Federal officials monitoring the changing health situation in the country had indicated at the beginning of April that this sixth wave had not yet arrived everywhere in Canada, since the situation is very different from one region to another. They had at that time predicted two scenarios for the pandemic, but neither of them predicted the end of the spread of the virus “in the foreseeable future”.
Theresa Tam reiterated on Tuesday that scientists strongly advise getting the recommended booster doses of a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine in this setting.
“Due to the fact that the variant Omicron tends to evade the immune mechanism, two doses of a vaccine once morest COVID-19 protect less well once morest this variant than once morest the previous ones, ”she explains. A booster dose is thus useful to increase the number of antibodies in order to protect once morest the virus.
“Context of increased activity”
A report from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) published tuesday states that all adults 18-49 years old and adolescents 12-17 years old with risk factors “should” take their first booster dose of an mRNA vaccine at least six months following their first round of two vaccines.
Given the “higher activity context”, NACI considers that all adolescents 12 to 17 years of age, even those without risk factors, should also be offered the booster dose. Quebec already offers this booster dose to adolescents who wish to receive it. Although Quebec has since offered Monday the fourth dose of vaccine to those over 60, the federal government suggests for the moment not to offer it from the age of 70.
Vaccinated persons who have been infected with coronavirus should wait at least three months following the onset of symptoms or a positive test to receive this booster dose.
The National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ) officially announced March 30 that a sixth wave of COVID-19 was hitting Quebec. Arrived even earlier in Europe, the sixth wave shows signs of slowing down on this continent.