Our top doctor is not worried about the booster dose rollout in Nova Scotia amid the arrival of Omicron.
Dr. Robert Strang says if you’re double-vaxxed you still have good protection. He explains that’s why our most vulnerable are eligible first.
“Despite some of the commentators out there who would suggest that unless you have a booster dose you have no protection against Omicron, I don’t believe that,” Strang says. “We still know that having two doses of vaccine gives you some protection, especially against severe disease.”
Strang continues to support an age-based rollout of booster doses.
He adds the phased approach will also ensure public health has the capacity to continue to get shots into the arms of 5 to 11-year-olds.
“Everybody will get an opportunity, but as we did in our first two doses, our whole vaccine program has always been based on who is most vulnerable, who is at highest risk of severe disease,” Strang says “They get to go the front of the line.”
Strang says right now that means people who are at risk of waning immunity due to their age are the priority along with people whose immunity is considered compromised.
He’s confident if you’re under the age of thirty your risk is low.
Currently, Nova Scotians 60 and older are now eligible for booster shots along with residents living in long-term care facilities, immunocompromised people, and health care workers.
You can also get a booster dose if you received 2 doses of AstraZeneca or the 1-dose Janssen vaccine.
It also must be roughly six months between second and third shots.
Strang expects booster doses will open up to people as young as 50 in early to mid-January.
“Other provinces are having different approaches, but we had the same concerns when we started to roll out our program. If you look at how we got through age groups and ended up with a very high vaccination rate, our approach worked,” Strang says. “At the end of the day, we may well be in a place where if you’re 30 to 40 you’ll actually get your vaccine quicker than in another province who may have already announced you’re eligible.”
Several provinces are currently offering booster shots to people 18 and older, including Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Ontario, Manitoba, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories.
Meantime, New Brunswick is allowing residents over the age of fifty to get a third shot.
