NEWS

Vaccine Update as of April 12, 2023

Please visit the Haldimand Norfolk Health Unit website for more information.

COVID-19 Vaccination Information | HealthUnit Haldimand-Norfolk (hnhu.org)

Who can get vaccinated

Everyone aged six months and older is eligible to receive a COVID‑19 vaccine.

Getting vaccinated and staying up to date with your COVID‑19 vaccines is the best way to protect yourself, your loved ones and our communities from severe outcomes from COVID‑19 and its variants.

If you do not have an Ontario health card, you are still eligible for the vaccine at no charge and can receive your vaccine certificate.

You may use another form of identification (photo identification is required if you are aged 18 or older) to support your name and date of birth. This can done be through a combination of identification, such as a driver’s licence, passport, a piece of registered mail, pay stub, student card, library card or government issued identification from other jurisdictions, including foreign and expired government documents.

Vaccine doses

COVID‑19 vaccination includes primary series and booster doses.

Primary series

A primary series is the initial number of doses of a COVID‑19 vaccine that a person needs to develop a strong initial immune response. Most people need two doses of an mRNA vaccine (Pfizer, Moderna) or Novavax (for those over 18 years of age) to complete their primary series. If you are immunocompromised, you may need a three-dose primary series.

Each dose in a primary series should be given at an interval of eight weeks between doses.

Booster doses

Booster doses are doses of a COVID‑19 vaccine received after the primary series. Protection after a primary series may decrease over time, especially against new variants. Booster doses help keep you protected from severe outcomes from the virus.

Booster doses should be given at an interval of six months between completion of a primary series and a first booster dose or between booster doses.

The recommended intervals between doses above are in accordance with National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) recommendations. They are based on evidence that suggests longer intervals between doses result in a stronger immune response and higher vaccine effectiveness that is expected to last longer. These intervals may also be associated with a lower risk of myocarditis and/or pericarditis and may also result in a better response after the next dose.

Learn more about which vaccine you can get.

Bivalent vaccines

Health Canada has approved COVID-19 bivalent vaccines for booster doses, which target both the original COVID-19 virus and the most recently circulating COVID-19 variants. Since the bivalent vaccine is being offered as a booster dose, those who receive it must have already completed a primary series. Booster doses will be offered at a recommended interval of six months, or a minimum interval of three months, since the last dose received. To book an appointment at a three-month interval, please call the Provincial Vaccine Contact Centre at 1-833-943-3900.

As of 8:00 a.m. on Monday, September 12, everyone aged 18 and over can begin to schedule their bivalent booster appointment for any time on or after September 26.

Prior to September 26, the province will be offering bivalent COVID‑19 boosters to the most vulnerable populations, including:

• individuals aged 70 and older
• First Nation, Inuit and Métis individuals or non-Indigenous household members aged 18 and older
• residents of a long-term care home, retirement home, or Elder Care Lodge or individuals living in other congregate settings that provide assisted-living and health services
• moderately to severely immunocompromised individuals aged 12 years and older
• pregnant individuals aged 18 years and older
• health care workers aged 18 years and older

Ages five to 17

Children and youth can receive their primary series followed by their booster doses at a recommended interval of six months since their previous dose. Children aged five to 17 who are immunocompromised or have an underlying medical condition that places them at high risk of severe illness due to COVID‑19 should receive their booster doses.

Ages six months to under five years

Children aged six months to under five years can get their primary series. A booster dose is not approved for this age group.

Learn more about COVID‑19 vaccines for children and youth.

Ages 18 and older

Individuals aged 18 and older can receive their primary series followed by a bivalent booster dose at a recommended interval of six months since their previous dose (with a minimum of three months).

High-risk individuals should get their next booster dose as soon as they are eligible, including:

• those aged 70 and older
• First Nation, Inuit and Métis individuals aged 18 and older and their non-Indigenous household members aged 18 and older
• residents of a long-term care home, retirement home, or Elder Care Lodge or older adults living in other congregate settings that provide assisted-living and health services
• moderately to severely immunocompromised individuals aged 12 and older
• pregnant women

Individuals who are immunocompromised

Individuals who are immunocompromised can get a third dose of the COVID‑19 vaccine eight weeks after their second dose as part of an extended primary series. This includes eligible children aged six months to 11 years old.

Following their three-dose primary series, immunocompromised individuals aged 12 years and older should receive bivalent booster doses at a recommended interval of six months since their previous dose.

Who is considered immunocompromised

You might be eligible as someone who is immunocompromised if you are:

• a transplant recipient (including solid organ transplant and hematopoietic stem cell transplants)
• receiving stable, active treatment (chemotherapy, targeted therapies, immunotherapy) for a malignant hematologic disorder or solid tumor
• in receipt of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T-cell
• an individual with moderate or severe primary immunodeficiency (for example, DiGeorge syndrome, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome)
• in Stage 3 or advanced untreated HIV infection and those with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
• undergoing active treatment with the following categories of immunosuppressive therapies: anti-B cell therapies (monoclonal antibodies targeting CD19, CD20 and CD22), high-dose systemic corticosteroids, alkylating agents, antimetabolites, or tumor-necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors and other biologic agents that are significantly immunosuppressive or are taking specific immunosuppressant medications (PDF)
• receiving dialysis (hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis)

Contact your health care provider if you have received a hematopoietic stem cell transplant, hematopoietic cell transplant (autologous or allogeneic) or have had CAR-T cell therapy after your COVID‑19 vaccination. You may be recommended to be re-vaccinated due to loss of immunity following therapy or transplant.

Learn more about which vaccine you can get.

If you’ve had COVID‑19

If you’ve already had COVID‑19, you should still be vaccinated for protection from reinfection or severe outcomes. While infection alone provides some protection, vaccination combined with infection helps further improve the immune response.

Even if you’ve recovered from COVID‑19, you are not immune and can still get the virus, be contagious while not showing any symptoms, and spread it to others in your community.

You may receive a COVID‑19 vaccine as soon as you stop experiencing symptoms. However, a longer amount of time between infection and vaccination may result in a better immune response.

If you have had COVID‑19, you should wait the following intervals after symptom onset or a positive test (if you had no symptoms) before receiving your next dose:

• If completing your primary series:
  • two months (56 days) if you are not immunocompromised and have no history of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C)
  • one to two months (28 – 56 days) if you are immunocompromised but have no history of MIS-C
  • if you have a history of MIS-C, until clinical recovery has been achieved or up to 90 days since the onset, whichever is longer, regardless of immunocompromised status
• If getting a booster dose:
  • at least three months (84 days); however, six months (168 days) may provide better immune response