Fourth vaccine dose eyed for LTC
Michael Garron Hospital, located in Toronto’s east end, is eyeing the possibility of a fourth shot of the COVID-19 vaccine for long-term-care homes.
“In anticipation that fourth doses may be required in the coming days or weeks, we are proactively discussing the possibility with our long-term-care home partners so that we can implement expeditiously,” Dr. Jeff Powis, the hospital’s medical director of infection prevention and control, wrote in an emailed statement to the Star on Sunday.
“With the exponential rise in cases in our community, the safety of long-term-care home residents is a top priority and we are exploring all potential options for increased protection.”
At least one east-end long-termcare home has alerted family members that their loved ones might be eligible for a fourth shot in the near future, the Star has learned.
Toronto is in the midst of rolling out third-dose boosters as Public Health Ontario reported more than 10,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases on Christmas Day, a record number of infections since the pandemic began. The case counts are considered “an underestimate” due to changes in testing availability and the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
On Boxing Day, Ontario reported 9,826 new cases, with 11 deaths linked to COVID-19 over the holiday weekend.
As of Christmas Eve, the Science Table’s Ontario dashboard reported 518 people in hospital with COVID-19, and 164 people in the ICU.
Currently, all Ontarians aged 18 and older are eligible to receive a booster dose of an mRNA vaccine three months after completion of a primary COVID-19 vaccine series.
Last month, Health Canada approved the use of Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines as booster shots, designed to help adults maintain their protection against COVID-19 over time. That followed the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) recommendation that populations at the highest risk of COVID-19 illness should be offered a booster dose of an mRNA vaccine at least six months after completing their primary series.
“Real world data suggests that a booster dose provides good shortterm vaccine effectiveness and has a safety profile similar to the second dose of the vaccine,” a Dec. 16 Ontario ministry of health document says. “There is no evidence on the long-term effectiveness of booster doses so it remains unknown at this time how long this protective benefit might last.”
While only representing about 1.1 per cent of the Canadian population, LTC residents accounted for approximately two-thirds of all reported deaths associated with COVID-19 during the first and second waves of the pandemic.
Dr. Jennifer Gommerman, a University of Toronto immunology professor, said Sunday that fourth doses of the COVID vaccine are “uncharted territory.”
Nevertheless, she believes it makes sense to give fourth doses to people at increased risk of COVID-19 infection. That includes residents of long-term care homes who got their third shot months ago and now “their antibody levels are definitely coming down ... (and) in the context of a massive, massive wave of Omicron.” Cases of the latest coronavirus variant are rising throughout the world.
But Gommerman emphasized that for healthy people who have had three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, emerging data shows “three doses of this vaccine is giving you really good protection against Omicron.”
Last week, Israel announced that adults 60 and older, medical workers and people with suppressed immune systems could soon receive a fourth dose if three months had passed from their previous dose.