ontario shortens interval for second vaccine doses
ontario has been administering covid-19 shots four months apart with some exceptions.
may 28 2021
2 minute read
by: blair crawford
ottawa’s covid-19 case count jumped back over 100 friday and the provincial cases climbed for the third day in a row to 1,273.
provincial data showed ottawa with 101 cased, more than double the 45 cases reported by ottawa public health on thursday. oph will release its own figures later friday and they usually differ from the provincial number because of the time the statistics are collected.
other hotspots were toronto with 269, peel at 268, hamilton with 78 and durham with 72.
the surge comes as ontario announced it is shortening the interval between doses of the covid-19 vaccine, starting with adults aged 80 and older next week.
the province says it’s able to make the move because 65 per cent of all adults have at least one shot and ontario now has a steady vaccine supply.
ontario has been administering covid-19 shots four months apart with some exceptions.
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the province says the shortened interval could be as small as 28 days for the pfizer-biontech and moderna vaccines in the coming months, depending on supply.
those who got a first shot of the oxford-astrazeneca vaccine will be offered a second dose after 12 weeks, though it could be a different vaccine depending on awaited federal guidance.
moving up the second dose is optional and people will keep their original appointments if they don’t re-book for an earlier shot.
ontarians aged 80 and older can start booking their second doses next week, and the provincial booking system has been modified to allow those who were vaccinated before the system came online to book their second shot. until now, that group had been frozen out because the system didn’t recognize that they had already received one vaccination.
those aged 70 and older will become eligible for second shots in the week of june 14.
after that, the province says residents will become eligible for second shots based on when they got their first dose.
those between the ages of 12 and 25 will become eligible in early august.
– with files from the canadian press
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