Bivalent COVID-19 booster shot available to all adults in Ontario starting Monday
Adults in Ontario will be able to receive the bivalent booster dose, which specifically targets the Omicron variants, starting on Monday.
Since mid-September, residents aged 18 and up were able to book an appointment for the booster through the province’s COVID-19 vaccination portal or by calling the Provincial Vaccine Contact Centre at 1-833-943-3900. However, the first available appointments begin tomorrow, Sept. 26.
Eligible individuals can also book an appointment through public health units that use their own booking systems, Indigenous-led vaccination clinics or through participating health-care providers and pharmacies.
Residents can receive the bivalent booster at a recommended interval of six months from their previous dose, or at a minimum interval of three months, regardless of how many booster doses they have received.
“COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters are the best tool to keep people healthy and out of hospitals, and to ensure Ontario’s economy stays open as the weather cools and people spend more time indoors,” Deputy Premier and Minister of Health Sylvia Jones said in a statement provided in a news release on Sunday.
The bivalent vaccine was first rolled out on Sept. 12 to individuals aged 70 and up, as well as residents of long-term care homes, retirement homes, Elder Care Lodges and other congregate settings, among others.
Dr. Vinita Dubey, Toronto’s associate medical officer of health, says the bivalent vaccine was made specifically for the BA.1 Omicron subvariant, but should provide strong protection against all subvariants, including the BA.5 which is currently the dominant strain.
“We know that even though the next variant might not even be a BA.5, we haven't needed the exact match to get good protection from the vaccines and so that's why we think that even with this BA.1 variant in the vaccine you will get some cross protection for an anticipated new variant that may be coming,” Dubey told CTV News Toronto earlier this month.
On Sept. 26, the province will also start to administer Pfizer's paediatric vaccine for children aged six months to under five years old.
The vaccine is a three-dose primary series, with a recommended interval of eight weeks between doses.
Pfizer’s paediatric vaccine is the second to be approved in Canada for children in that age group after Moderna’s vaccine was approved in July.
“Mixing products for your infant or child’s primary series doses is not recommended. Your child should receive the same product for all their primary series doses, whether it is Pfizer or Moderna,” the Ministry of Health says.
Parents and caregivers can continue booking appointments through the same methods used for the bivalent vaccine.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
BREAKING Police will not be charged in death of Indigenous man in B.C., mother says
Three Mounties in British Columbia will not face charges in the killing of a 38-year-old Indigenous man on Vancouver Island in 2021, according to the man's mother.
Douglas DC-4 plane with 2 people on board crashes into river outside Fairbanks, Alaska
A Douglas C-54 Skymaster airplane crashed into the Tanana River near Fairbanks on Tuesday, Alaska State Troopers said.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer still haunted by death of Toronto police officer
“It's just so hard to let it go. I mean, everyone is telling me, ‘you have to move on,’ but I know someone is not here [anymore]. So I don't know how I will move on." That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.
NASA hears from Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, after months of quiet
NASA has finally heard back from Voyager 1 again in a way that makes sense. The most distant spacecraft from Earth hadn't sent home any understandable data since last November.
Saskatchewan households will continue to receive carbon tax rebate: Trudeau
Households in Saskatchewan will continue to receive Canada Carbon Rebate payments, despite the province refusing to remit the federal carbon price on natural gas, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.