4th COVID-19 vaccine dose could soon be available for N.L. seniors

Health Minister John Haggie saysguidelines on a fourthCOVID-19 vaccine dose for people 80 and over could comeas early as next week, with the provincegrapples with a spike in virus hospitalizations.

Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization on Tuesday recommended the"rapid deployment" of a second booster for people over 80 and people living in congregate living spaces to help mitigate the risk of highly transmissible variants.

Haggiesaid Wednesday thatChief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald is discussing therecommendation with the province's regional health authorities.

"One of the things that Dr. Fitzgerald said, and said again this morning, is that the immunity from boosters wanes. That's why a fourth dose is recommended," he said Wednesday.

"Her concern is now looking ahead of the modelling in actual fact to see if there's going to be another surge, when that's going to be, and how that would fit in with timing and whether or not there needs to be an interval between boosters."

The fourth vaccine may prove to be help for Newfoundland and Labrador's seniors, as 56of the province's 122 reported deaths have been people over 80.

Haggie said giving seniors a fourth dose of vaccine could help slowthe rise of COVID-19 deaths, which have spikedsince the Omicron variant swept across Canada this winter.In the last two weeks, the province has reported 30 deaths, or almost 25 per cent of the total deaths since the pandemic was declared in March 2020.

"[A booster has] always been our aim. If you remember the boosters when they first came out, we went into long-term care homes pretty well from the get go," the health minister said.

Some health-care procedures cancelled

Administering a second booster dose would require a portion of the province's health-care professionals to be diverted back into the province's vaccination program workers who are already struggling to keep up witha backlog of procedures and working through two years of COVID fatigue.

A total of 580 health-care workers are currently out of the system due to a positive COVID-19 test or required isolation, Haggie said.

The impact on the health-care system would depend on the timing between booster doses, hesaid,addingofficials are focused on providing care to those who need it.

"Obviously the COVID cases add a load. Our priority though is that we got people on stretchers in hallways," he said. "These people need to be accommodated within the system, and that's a discussion that we'll be having with the regional health authorities over the next few days."

Some procedures have been cancelled as a result of COVID-19 cases andthe backlog, Haggie said, who said he couldn't provide anan exact number.

As of Wednesday, there werea record 47 people in hospital due to COVID-19 in the province. Haggie said the province continues to follow its COVID-19 modelling, which says the health-care system can manage as many as 60 hospitalizations at peak levels.

If hospitalizations surpass 60, he said, the province has resources to handle it but he admitssome factors may present problems, such as where the hospitalizations are needed.

"We've seen, for example, in Labrador-Grenfell, COVID-positive patients being looked after in Western [Health]. We've seen patients from Central go into Eastern to distribute the workload," he said.

Haggie said decisions might also have to be made to prioritize procedures that are necessary over procedures that are"nice to do."

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