Quebec recommends 3rd dose of COVID-19 vaccine for people living in long-term care, seniors’ homes | CBC News

“We will wait for the recommendations of our experts for other age groups and people living at home, depending on the evolution of the situation,” Dubé said.

Dubé added that the recommended interval to wait before getting a third dose is six months, which he said won’t be a problem as most people in this category were vaccinated in March or April.

He said that the booster doses are planned to roll out at the same time as the annual influenza vaccine campaign and will begin in CHSLDs in late October and then move on to RPAs and RI-RTFs in November.

He said the decision is being made in response to the increasing number of cases in these facilities.

Dubé said people living in them are more vulnerable and the goal is to “give those people the best immunity possible.”

He added that data has shown “the elderly and people who are vulnerable, people with chronic illnesses, react less well to the vaccine over time.”

“Given that there is no negative effect to administering a booster, we will proceed with this vaccination,” he said.

Dubé said that the booster is a preventive measure and will affect 220,000 people in the province: 40,000 in CHSLDs, 140,000 in RPAs and another 40,000 in RI-RTFs.

The province’s public health director, Dr. Horacio Arruda, made an administrative decision to start giving out doses to populations in those three settings based on recommendations from Quebec’s immunization committee.

U.S. goes ahead with boosters for people 65+

The announcement comes one day after U.S. President Joe Biden, 78, publicly received a booster shot.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration have recommended a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine for Americans 65 and older and approved them for others with pre-existing medical conditions or high-risk work environments.

But the aggressive American push for boosters, before many poorer nations have been able to provide even a modicum of protection for their most vulnerable populations, has drawn the ire of the World Health Organization and some aid groups, which have called on the U.S. to pause third shots to free up supply for the global vaccination effort.

WATCH | U.S. President Joe Biden fields questions from reporters while getting a booster shot:

Biden receives COVID-19 booster shot

U.S. President Joe Biden fielded questions from reporters while getting a booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine. 1:27

Speaking on Tuesday, Dubé said that Quebec is not currently following America’s lead because the epidemiological situation here is different.

He said that in the U.S. they imposed an interval of only 28 days between doses, which may have limited the effect.

“If we do too soon we lose the effect of the second dose,” said Dubé.

“Data says they have to revaccinate those people because that interval was too low.”

Responding to a question about the ethics of giving out a third dose when some countries don’t have enough supply to vaccinate their populations, Arruda said that this concern does play into the government’s decision-making.

He said that for now, it’s only a small portion of people who are the most vulnerable who will be receiving a booster.

“We’re not giving the dose to everybody,” he said.

At the end of August, Quebec’s immunization committee (CIQ) announced it was recommending a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine for people who are immunocompromised or undergoing dialysis.

The province’s public health research institute, the INSPQ, says an additional dose should be considered as a reinforcement of the basic vaccination, as the second dose is sometimes not sufficient.

That measure affected about one to two per cent of the population, including people who have had an organ transplant or who are receiving chemotherapy treatment.