3rd doses to be expanded to Manitoba health-care workers, people who got full courses of AZ or J&J

Manitoba is expanding the eligibility for COVID-19 booster shots to thousands of health-care workers and anyone who received full courses of the AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

On Tuesday afternoon, Doctors Manitoba informed its members via email the province plans to expand the eligibility for the booster shots on Wednesday.

Doctors, nurses, pharmacists and any other health-care workers who provide direct patient care will be eligible for third doses as long as six months have gone by since their second doses.

The boosters are not compulsory, but they are recommended for health-care workers.

"While the evolving evidence suggests vaccine effectiveness remains high against severe outcomes (e.g. hospitalization or death), there is evidence of waning immunity at least against symptomatic infection," Doctors Manitoba states in the email.

"Given the risk of exposure in health-care settings if symptomatic, the province will make booster shots available to health-care workers, including physicians.

"It is important to note that health-care workers who are fully immunized but become infected could transmit COVID-19 to patients with whom they have direct contact. If symptomatic, fully-vaccinated health care workers will be required to isolate."

Third doses will also be made available to anyone who received a series of a viral-vector vaccine, such as AstraZeneca, which was administered in Canada, and Johnson and Johnson, which a handful of Canadians received in the United States.

These boosters will be available anywhere that offers COVID-19 shots.

An AstraZeneca series is two doses. The Johnson and Johnson vaccine is a one-shot product. The boosters are recommended six months after the final AZ or Johnson and Johnson dose.

People with mixed courses of AstraZeneca and an mRNA vaccine like Pfizer or Moderna are not recommended for boosters right now.

The province is also in the process of making third doses available to more personal care home residents. Like health-care workers, they were among the first Manitobans to get their shots.

"We know that with older age, that the immune response can be weaker," Dr. Joss Reimer, the medical lead for Manitoba's vaccine implementation task force, said on Monday.

"We've seen evidence that the closer time period between dose one and dose two was not as good as a longer time period and in creating a strong and lasting immune response, and we know that people living in personal care homes are more likely to have other illnesses that make them higher risk of severe outcomes."