Ottawa doctor sticks it to Ontario booster rollout, provides vaccines to ineligible patients

An Ottawa physician, who says the province's rollout plan for COVID-19 booster shots is too slow, has taken matters into her own hands. 

While Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health has announced people 18 and over will be eligible come early January, Ottawa's Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth isn't waiting. 

The family doctor began sticking boosters in arms on Sunday as part of her sixth Jabapalooza event, administering hundreds of shots in a single day, specifically aimed at younger essential workers. 

Older people, immunocompromised people, and health care and congregate care workers are already eligible for the booster in the province. 

But Kaplan-Myrth opened the eligibility up further to include her adult patients six months out from their second dose, as well as those who attended her "Jabapalooza" events in May and June.

She said those immunized at her past Jabapaloozas were essential workers — including teachers, child-care providers and grocers.  

"We had doses that were going to expire," she said. "I could not abide throwing those in the garbage when we had these essential workers who, six months ago when I gave them their second dose, I promised them we would do whatever we needed to do to continue to keep them safe."

The clinic administered 366 doses on Sunday. 

Kaplan-Myrth saw a steady stream of patients all day. Once half a dozen people had lined up out the door for their appointment time, she welcomed them into her waiting room — where the radio played rock music — vaccinated everyone in a row, and sent them on their way.  

Tiffany Tremblay is 33 years old and works as a physiotherapist at a neuro clinic, so she was glad to get her third dose sooner rather than later. 

She said getting the shot from her family doctor was a much more relaxing experience than her first two doses. 

Forty-year-old Alex Rudy said he was glad his doctor made the process smooth and stress-free. 

"I was pretty excited," said Rudy, who added he's especially relieved because he has a newborn baby at home. 

Jacob Earl also met Kaplan-Myrth's expanded eligibility criteria. 

"I've come to Dr. Kaplan-Myrth for all three of my doses, and it's been like this every time," he said. "She's done the Jabapaloozas, and she's vaccinated hundreds, if not thousands of people, and I came last in the summer and it was a big party outside."

"It's fun," he said. 

As a family doctor, Kaplan-Myrth said she felt it was her prerogative to take care of her patients. 

"We do not want anyone's immunity who had their second dose six months ago to start to wane," she said. "This third dose is important. It's not an extra dose. It's the third dose in a series that is needed."

The family physician isn't concerned about potential backlash, either. 

"It's approved by Ontario," she said. "They're just taking their sweet time to actually roll it out. It's approved by [the National Advisory Committee on Immunization]. What backlash?"

The Ministry of Health did not respond to a request for an interview.

Physician worried about the holidays

Kaplan-Myrth suspects the province hasn't opened up eligibility to more people, in part, because it doesn't want to make people work over the holidays. 

But the omicron variant of the virus, and a recent surge in new cases, have underlined the importance of shoring up people's immunities, she said, especially before holiday gatherings.  

"It'll just be heartbreaking if anybody gets sick or ends up in hospital or dies because they didn't get a third dose," she said. 

"We don't have the energy as a health care system to deal with a really dark winter with a huge surge."