Ontario still doesn’t allow most adults under the age of 60 to get a fourth COVID-19 vaccine, prompting one doctor to prepare legal action to get the province to expand eligibility.
In the face of a demonstrated weakening of the mRNA vaccine’s ability to prevent infection three or four months after injection, along with the increased transmissibility of the now-dominant BA.5 Omicron variant, ordinary Ontarians are currently ineligible for a fourth dose, especially health care workers , beg for the chance to get another chance.
Ottawa family physician Dr. Neely Kaplan-Mirt says she had 730 people come to her office for a fourth dose of COVID-19 last week.
“But then I got a call from Ottawa Public Health on Friday saying the Ministry of Health told them not to extend eligibility for a fourth dose unless they’re Indigenous, immunocompromised or live in a congregate environment, so I had to cancel” , Kaplan-Myrth told CP24.
She said many of her patients travel to Quebec, where anyone 18 and over can get a fourth injection as long as it’s been three months since the last one.
In a letter sent to Doug Ford’s government this week, she pleaded with the province to lower the legal age below 60.
“People will get COVID-19 two or three times, a lot of our patients who work in the community and who have children and that vaccine that we gave them in December or January 1, we can give them another vaccine to get them through October “, she said.
October is around the time when Canada’s chief medical officer and the National Immunization Advisory Council tell provinces to start booster campaigns ahead of an expected wave of COVID-19 transmission.
Ontario’s Scientific Advisory Panel on COVID-19 Dr. Fahad Razak told CP24 there is evidence to support expanding vaccine eligibility immediately, but also a lot of evidence to suggest the province should wait until the fall.
“I understand and respect the voices of both sides here, but I truly believe we are in a period of scientific uncertainty.”
He said officials are likely in a waiting game, analyzing trends — some of which suggest a recent spike in COVID-19 transmission in Ontario — to determine when it would be best to make fourth doses available to all adults.
“You want defenses to align when cases are most prevalent. Ideally, you won’t get an additional vaccine for three to six months, and we have the next generation of vaccines coming in for the fall — it’s actually already July,” he said.
If Ontario doesn’t expand eligibility, Kaplan-Mirt says she and her lawyer, Mark Bury, will file a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal this week.
“It’s crazy to let these things go to waste — the people of Ontario have already paid for these things,” Bury told CP24. “It would be a shame to tie people up and waste taxpayers’ money with litigation when there is such a sensible alternative.”
Since December 2020, Ontario has received 2.4 million more doses of COVID-19 than it has administered.
It’s unclear how many of those doses remain viable, but most provinces told the federal government to stop sending them vaccine in 2021 because they had more doses than they could use.
CP24 has repeatedly asked the Ontario Ministry of Health how many of those 2.4 million doses were wasted during administration or expired in freezers over the past six months.
Each time the ministry refuses to comment.
“It doesn’t seem like the reporters can figure out how many vials of vaccine are out there with a July expiration date,” Kaplan-Mirt said.
The Department of Health declined to say whether there was an upcoming plan to expand the eligibility of a fourth-dose COVID-19 vaccine, but Premier Doug Ford told reporters Thursday morning that “you’ll be hearing more about our (fourth-dose) rollout over the next little while.” .”
For Dr. Doris Grinspoon, CEO of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, there isn’t much time to wait.
“Nurses are asking us, they want a fourth booster and they don’t want it to be based on age,” she said. “We need to get it open before we get deeper into this situation with more people getting infected.”
Until now, nurses from Ontario have driven to Michigan, New York or Quebec for a fourth dose.
“It’s terrible — how much they can go to Quebec and Michigan — it’s terrible for them and terrible for the patients, so it has to be open.”
Kaplan-Myrth says she has more than 80 patients and other supporters behind her efforts to expand eligibility.
Some are immunocompromised, some work in healthcare, some are in basic, personal jobs where they see hundreds of people a day.
If the data were better and clearer, Razak says every jurisdiction in the world with stocks would rush to administer fourth doses to everyone.
“Say there’s a compelling article in the New England Journal of Medicine about the benefits of a fourth dose—we’ll all go and do it right away.”
Meanwhile, Razak said the public should make sure they have all the doses of the COVID-19 vaccine they are eligible for today, mask up indoors and have outdoor gatherings.
“All of these things give you protection regardless of vaccine status.”
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