2023-07-11 19:18:47
(Ottawa) The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) announced Tuesday that Canadians should receive another booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the fall if it has been at least six months since their last dose or since infection with the virus.
Posted at 3:18 p.m.
“Booster doses given in the fall will be updated formulations to target newer variants of SARS-CoV-2, which more easily evade the immune system,” the NACI guidelines state.
“People vaccinated with the updated formulation should experience a better immune response once morest these variants compared to current vaccines. »
NACI continues to urge anyone five years of age and older who has not yet been vaccinated to receive a two-dose series of an mRNA vaccine.
He also released a “discretionary recommendation” for children aged six months to five years who have not yet been vaccinated to receive a primary series of an mRNA vaccine.
Bivalent mRNA vaccines containing Omicron can be used for people receiving their first two-dose series of vaccine, NACI said.
This fall’s vaccination is “particularly important for people at increased risk of COVID-19 infection or severe disease,” according to the NACI document.
These vulnerable groups include adults 65 years of age or older, residents of long-term care facilities and other congregate living settings, people with underlying medical conditions, pregnant people, members of First Nations communities , Métis and Inuit, racialized people and people who provide essential community services.
The mRNA vaccines available in Canada are manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
Although mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are “preferred,” NACI said Novavax’s Nuvaxovid should be offered as a booster vaccine for adults 18 years of age and older “who are unwilling or unable to receive a vaccine at mRNA”.
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