COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to include all adults.That’s despite recent moves by other provinces to make the booster accessible to everyone over the age of 18.
Manitoba expands COVID vaccine eligibility to include kids four and under Dr. Brent Roussin said Wednesday Manitoba will instead likely wait for the fall, when he says a new bivalent vaccine may be available.“In early fall, there’s a real chance of a bivalent vaccine.
That we begin our fall campaign with that is going to be, very likely, more effective against the newer variants that we’re dealing with,” Roussin said.“Because there’s going to be a three to six month interval between doses, a large fourth dose campaign right now could potentially delay the receipt of a much, possibly, better vaccine.”Currently available COVID-19 vaccines are monovalent — tailored solely to the original novel coronavirus.
COVID-19: How bivalent vaccines could help protect against new variants The proposed bivalent vaccines target specific mutations in the spike protein seen in both the old strain and newer Omicron strain, which itself has spawned several more infectious subvariants dominating infections today.Ontario and Alberta, though, have both opened up second boosters to all adults.In Manitoba, access to fourth shots is limited to people aged 50-plus, Indigenous people aged 30 or older, people in personal care and assisted living homes and some immunocompromised people.Roussin said Wednesday one booster already provides good protection against severe outcomes for those over 18 who aren’t eligible for a second.