Public Health Agency of Canada says it will soon expect guidance on a fourth dose of the COVID vaccine – Victoria News

The National Advisory Board on Immunity will publish guidance on a fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in early April due to rising public health indicators across Canada.

It will come as concerns about the capacity of hospitals grow as the country enters what is characterized as the sixth wave.

A spokesman for the Public Health Agency of Canada said Thursday that the agency will release NACI’s advice on a fourth dose in the coming days.

“NACI is being sought for advice on the potential use of a second booster dose in an elderly population at high risk of serious illness. PHAC released NACI’s advice on this in early April. “We will do it,” Anna Maddison said in an email.

NACI previously recommended that people with “moderate to severe immunodeficiency” receive a fourth vaccination six months after the third vaccination. Earlier this week, U.S. regulators approved a fourth vaccination for Americans over the age of 50, at least four months after the last vaccination.

The issue of additional boosters is becoming more pressing for some because of the public health indicators.

Hospitalizations have begun to increase in some areas after many states have relinquished their vaccination passport and mask obligations this month, suggesting that the tendency for wastewater is also increasing in cases.

Some people, including Quebec officials, say the country is on the verge of a sixth wave of pandemics and may see hospitals thin again.

Dr. Susy Hota, an infectious disease specialist and hospital epidemiologist at the University Health Network in Toronto, said:

“The reality we have to get used to is that the incident goes up and down. The real question is what we want to do to prevent them from rising at a pace we can’t keep up with. . “

According to Yasuda, some COVID-19 patients are unable to leave the hospital system after developing complications, burdening the system, which is not known in publicly reported numbers.

“And when combined with the need to keep up with surgery and delays and postponed care of various qualities, the healthcare system handles a lot more,” she said.

Colin Furness, an epidemiologist and professor at the University of Toronto, said COVID-19’s burnout in the medical field and the absence of staff make the problem even more difficult.

“We’ve heard from the front lines that a really quiet and urgent SOS says,’I don’t have the capabilities the government is telling us,'” he said.

He urged people to continue wearing masks and take other precautions to protect their personal health as well as the hospital system.

“” Everyone takes off your mask and we’ll have a hospital bed when you need it, “is a really bad idea,” Furnes said. “First of all, COVID isn’t the illness you want, but more importantly, I don’t know if the bed is there.”

The Ontario Hospital Association points out that hospitalizations are on the rise, and the state reported Thursday that 807 patients were hospitalized for COVID-19, compared to 661 a week ago. ..

Further east, Nova Scotia reports a burden on its health care system.

As of Thursday, 786 health care workers in the state were absent from work because they tested positive for COVID-19, were waiting for a test result, or were exposed to a family member who tested positive. I did.

Nova Scotia also reported 53 new hospitalizations for COVID-19 last week, with 16 patients discharged and 11 in the intensive care unit.

In Quebec, which began this week with a fourth dose to elderly people over the age of 80, immunocompromised people, and residents of long-term care facilities, 1,238 people were infected with the virus on Thursday.

Health Minister Christian Duvet said the area around Quebec, which escaped when a highly contagious variant of Omicron tore across the country, is now hit hard by what he characterized as the sixth wave of the pandemic. Said that he was receiving.

For example, in Montreal, there are about 208 cases per 100,000 people. In contrast, Côte-Nord has 750 cases per 100,000 people.

Nonetheless, Duvet said the state has no plans to delay the lifting of the mask obligations, a move currently set in mid-April, and no plans to reintroduce other public health measures. ..

“At this point, there is no reason to change our strategy, because people need to learn to live with the virus and continue to protect themselves,” he said.

In Ontario, Health Minister Christine Elliott also said there are currently no plans to regain the COVID-19 measures that were lifted earlier this month, despite the growing prevalence of the virus.

“If we need to take further steps, we need to do that, but so far we don’t think we need to do that,” she said.

Earlier this month, Ontario lifted indoor masking rules for most spaces and lifted most of the other measures aimed at limiting spread, such as vaccination certification rules and crowd capacity limits.

— Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press

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