Hub Staff
The Grey Bruce Health Unit (GBHU) announced this week that individuals 12 years of age and older can now receive bivalent COVID-19 booster in Grey-Bruce.
Health Canada approved Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent COVID-19 vaccine October 7. It was developed to target the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants and those eligible can receive a booster dose at Public Health and local vaccine clinics.
Public Health is also working with community partners in hopes of making it available through area pharmacies and primary care practitioners.
The Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty vaccine is the second bivalent COVID-19 booster to be authorized by Health Canada," read an October 19 media release from GBHU. "It’s the first to be approved for children and youth aged 12 to 17. Health Canada has also authorized a Moderna Spikevax bivalent vaccine as a booster dose for individuals aged 18 and over," the release said.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) strongly recommends that anyone 65 years of age and older as well as individuals 12 years of age and older who are at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19 should be offered a fall booster dose regardless of the number of booster doses previously received. An interval of six months is recommended between a previous COVID-19 vaccine or infection and a booster dose.
The provincial government suggests individuals at high risk of severe illness due to COVID-19 illness as well as seniors 65 and over are strongly advised to receive their booster dose three months after their last dose.
All Ontarians aged five and older are eligible to receive a COVID-19 booster while children aged five to 11 can receive a monovalent vaccine as their booster dose. Infants and children aged six months to five years are only eligible for a primary vaccine series.
To book a vaccine appointment, visit the online COVID-19 Vaccination Portal at ontario.ca/book-vaccine or call the Provincial Vaccine Contact Centre at 1-833-943-3900.
For a list of our upcoming vaccination clinics in Grey-Bruce, visit Public Health’s online COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic Schedule at ontario.ca/book-vaccine.
