All Manitoba adults now eligible for COVID-19 booster shot

WINNIPEG -

Manitoba is allowing all adults 18 and older to receive a COVID-19 booster shot, the province announced Wednesday.

The decision comes one day after Health Canada authorized the Pfizer vaccine booster for all adults 18 and older.

A minimum of six months is required between second and third doses, except in very limited circumstances. Dr. Joss Reimer, the lead of the vaccine implementation task force in Manitoba, said a prescription would be required from a doctor to get the early dose.

“Because you are moderately to severely immunocompromised, or because you require it for travel purposes,” she said.

Third doses are recommended to people who are at an increased risk of serious illness from COVID-19, their caregivers, and close contacts, the province said in a news release.

Reimer added people over the age of 70, people who are immunocompromised, Indigenous people living anywhere in Manitoba, people with certain chronic health conditions, and frontline health-care workers, should receive a booster to help increase their immune response.

Third doses can be provided at any location that offers the COVID-19 vaccine. Reimer said you will be asked to come back to get vaccinated if you arrive before the six-month mark.

“A longer window between the end of the primary series and the booster dose provides the strongest immune response possible,” she said. "Your immune system needs time to complete its immune response before the next dose.”

If you are unsure of the date when you received your second COVID-19 vaccine dose, Reimer said the information is available online.

Reimer said while boosters are being recommended, the focus is still on getting more Manitobans their first and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Currently, 87 per cent of eligible Manitobans have received at least one COVID-19 dose, while 84.1 per cent are fully vaccinated.

NEW VACCINE COMING TO MANITOBA

Manitoba will receive a shipment of the Janssen vaccine in the coming weeks.

The province said 2,250 doses of the one-dose vaccine will be available at some pharmacies and medical clinics.

People are considered fully immunized 14 days after receiving the single dose, but the province recommends a second dose of an mRNA vaccine be given to provide the best possible protection.

The vaccine is approved for people 18 and older.