By Ruby Pratka
Local Journalism Initiative
People over age 5 who get vaccinated against COVID-19 for the first time now only need a single dose to be considered adequately vaccinated, according to the Institut national de santé public du Québec (INSPQ).
“In the past, someone who was getting vaccinated for the first time was [advised] to get two doses,” explained Dr. Nicholas Brousseau, a public health physician at the INSPQ. “Now that almost everyone has been infected, or has a certain form of protection, we have agreed that just one dose will boost protection.”
“A single dose of the new vaccine, administered this fall, is now sufficient for a person to be considered adequately protected. Thus, the number of vaccine doses to be administered is no longer influenced by the presence or absence of a confirmed previous infection nor by the number of doses previously received,” officials from the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) said in a statement. Two doses are still recommended for children under five and immunocompromised people. People who have recently been infected with COVID-19 are advised to wait six months before getting a booster shot.
Brousseau emphasized that the situation could change. “We can’t say there will be no more vaccine doses after this one; there are still too many unknowns. We’re less and less worried as time moves on and people build up certain defences – we’re no longer in an early pandemic situation where no one has had any exposure to this disease before – but protection can lower with time, and we’re not out of danger if there’s a significant mutation to the virus.” The MSSS also mentioned that “recommendations regarding possible additional doses of COVID-19 vaccine will be released later, depending in particular on the evolution of this disease and the arrival of future variants.”
Since early October, public health authorities have been encouraging people to get an additional booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine. “Vaccination is very important for people at high risk – people over 60 or living with chronic illness. I’d like it if everyone in those risk groups got the current vaccine, which is well adapted to the current variant. For younger, healthier people who are at lower risk, it’s a personal decision.” According to Brousseau, most of those currently hospitalized due to COVID are over 60 or facing other pre-existing health challenges.
COVID-19 and flu vaccines are available for free in vaccination centres, health facilities and many pharmacies. People who do not have a Quebec health card or who have an expired health card can still get vaccinated. The MSSS recommends that people residing in CHSLDs, RPAs or other shared living environments; people aged 60 and over; immunocompromised or pregnant people; health care workers and people living in remote areas get the latest booster shot.
While the last provincial public health restrictions put in place to control the pandemic in hospitals were rolled back in May, after the World Health Organization declared the end of the “emergency phase” of the COVID-19 pandemic, the disease still causes hospitalization and death. As of this writing, nearly 1500 people in Quebec were in hospital with the virus, including 43 in intensive care. Between Oct. 29 and Nov. 4, the most recent week for which data is available, 49 people died due to complications from COVID-19 infections.