What London residents need to know about getting the bivalent COVID-19 booster dose
Starting Monday, Sept. 26 Ontarians aged 18 and older will be eligible to receive the bivalent COVID-19 booster dose.
Booster doses should be given at an interval of six months between completion of a primary series and a first booster dose or between booster doses, according to the Middlesex London Health Unit.
“This is the one that we feel is important to get because this is the one that's been circulating the most in the community,” said Mary Lou Albanese, the Middlesex London health unit’s director of environmental health and infectious disease.
Albanese said as we head into the fall and winter months the health unit is encouraging people to get vaccinated as there are few COVID-19 health measures in place in the province.
“In the coming months, we are going to see an uptick in the disease in the community. And if it's been three-six months since your last dose your immunity has waned which means it’s gone down and you're more apt to pick up respiratory illness.”
Vishal Mehta, a pharmacist at Yurek pharmacy in London told CTV News that they have seen less of a demand for people looking to get their booster doses.
However, people have begun to have more questions about this particular vaccine, Mehta said.
“The bivalent vaccine that we’re offering is showing to be more effective against the omicron which is the BA.1 and the BA.4,BA. 5 variant and continues to be more effective against the original variants as well,” said Mehta.
As of Friday, bivalent COVID-19 booster dose appointments are still available to “highest risk populations” including:
- Individuals aged 70 and over
- Residents of long-term care homes, retirement homes, and individuals living in other congregate settings that provide assisted-living and health services
- First Nation, Inuit, and Métis individuals and their non-Indigenous household members aged 18 and over
- Moderately to severely immunocompromised individuals aged 12 and over
- Pregnant individuals aged 18 and over
- Health care workers aged 18 and over.
The bivalent vaccine is currently available at the Agriplex Mass Vaccination Clinic until Thursday, Sept. 29. The bivalent vaccine is available at all MLHU clinic sites including the Health Unit’s Mass Vaccination Clinic at the Caradoc Community Centre in Mount Brydges and its Community COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics.
Appointments are required to receive a dose of bivalent vaccine at these locations and can be booked online or by calling 226-289-3560.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.