Pressure growing to change B.C. COVID-19 booster strategy amid Omicron uncertainty
With Alberta announcing adults over age 60 can start booking a COVID-19 booster shot – and Ontario expected to announce a similar move for those over 50 on Thursday – pressure is mounting on B.C. health officials to do the same as concerns over the Omicron variant continue to grow.
While it’s not yet clear if Omicron is more contagious or deadly than Delta, governments around the world have started restricting international travel from some African countries and booster doses are being fast-tracked in many places.
On Tuesday, B.C.’s provincial health officer credited booster shots with helping reduce COVID-19 in hospitals, but was lukewarm to the idea of expanding their availability beyond the current access for those who are six months past their second dose and over 70, health-care workers, the immunocompromised and anyone with dual AstraZeneca doses. Everyone else will be eligible starting in January, six to eight months after their second dose.
"I don't think it'll change, but everything is new; we are looking at the information that's coming around Omicron," said Dr. Bonnie Henry, noting she’s awaiting new guidelines that the National Advisory Committee on Immunization is expected to release this week.
EXPERTS URGE PROACTIVE APPROACH TO OMICRON
One of the country’s most prominent epidemiologists has urged the province to take a more proactive approach. Speaking at a weekly webinar organized by a grassroots B.C. advocacy group – which is pushing for the use of rapid tests and eduation about airborne transmission of COVID-19 – Dr. David Fisman said he doesn’t think B.C. is doing “as well as it might.”
Fisman, a professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, said while the jury is still out on whether Omicron is more dangerous than Delta, a proactive approach is preferable. When CTV News asked how much more contagious it would have to be to cause problems and potentially trigger a fifth wave, Fisman said it wouldn’t have to be much.
“There’s a lot of different moving parts going on … some estimates are 10 to 25 per cent more infective per day,” he said. “That can put you back into epidemic growth because these relatively small percentages – it’s like compound interest, it can really rev up growth a lot. So, it is a worry, and clearly I'm not the only one who thinks so because I'm not the one who shut down the flights out of different countries."
Fisman highlighted that Israel began fast-tracking third-dose boosters amidst surging cases and found considerable success in doing so.
“We don't have to wait to have a disaster and then react," he said. “We have (vaccine doses) in the country and they’re going in the garbage can.”
A RISKY TIME OF YEAR, EVEN IF OMICRON ISN’T WORSE
Henry acknowledged that even if the best-case scenario plays out and Omicron is no worse than the Delta strain of COVID-19, the winter is a risky time.
“The days are darker and colder and shorter and we’re spending more time indoors where this virus continues to spread more easily,” she warned.
And while Henry has been reluctant to use the words “airborne” or “aerosol” in her descriptions of how COVID-19 spreads, Fisman has made it his mission to educate the public about the risks.
“Everybody can understand aerosol; it’s Canada so we can see our breaths 5 months of the year, so if you tell us that’s how this spreads, people can fill in the gaps in terms of how they should behave in different settings,” said Fisman, who also criticized B.C. public health officials’ secrecy around outbreaks.
“People have no ability to use available tools to protect themselves if they’re kept ignorant of risk.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
NEW More unauthorized products for skin, sexual enhancement, recalled: Here are the recalls of this week
Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency recalled various items this week, including torches, beef biltong and unauthorized products related to skin care and sexual enhancement.
Where is the worst place for allergy sufferers in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
Do these exercises for core strength if you can't stomach doing planks
Planks are one of the most effective exercises for strengthening your midsection, as they target all of your major core muscles: the transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, external obliques and internal obliques. Yet despite the popularity of various 10-minute plank challenges, planking is actually one of the most dreaded core exercises, according to many fitness experts.
Polar ice is melting and changing Earth's rotation. It's messing with time itself
One day in the next couple of years, everyone in the world will lose a second of their time. Exactly when that will happen is being influenced by humans, according to a new study, as melting polar ice alters the Earth’s rotation and changes time itself.
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
NEW 'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire': A crowd pleaser that turns it up to 11
Hot on the heels of last year's 'Godzilla Minus One' comes 'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,' the first ever Academy Award winner in the giant reptile's decades-long film career.
Deaths of 4 people on Sask. farm confirmed as murder-suicide
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.