Despite high levels of COVID in Ottawa, booster intake remains low

Ottawa Public Health is encouraging more people to roll up their sleeves to get the COVID-19 shot after recent data shows booster dose uptake is low.

National data shows that only 17 percent of Canadians have received a booster shot in the past six months.

In Ottawa, the numbers are slightly higher. Twenty-eight recent residents aged 12 years and older received at least four doses.

Phil Jansson, program manager for health information and public engagement at Ottawa Public Health, says: “We are heartened by the vaccination rates and by Ottawa residents who have rolled up their sleeves to get their fall boosters.

“But we know we still have a lot of work to do to increase our vaccination rates in our community. More immunizations mean more members in our community are protected from COVID-19.”

Jansson says, “Our bivalent boosters increase the diversity of protection that individuals can have against the circulating Omicron variants.”

Health Canada has approved a bivalent vaccine from both Moderna and Pfizer, and both are available at community clinics. You can choose which one you get based on available stock, but OPH says the best is what’s available.

“We have no evidence that any vaccine has greater protection against COVID-19; we encourage everyone to get a booster shot, whether it’s Moderna or Pfizer,” says Jansson.

OPH says keeping COVID-19 “front and center” nearly three years into the pandemic is challenging.

Jansson says: “Some challenges that we see are that there is so much information, so we try to summarize it for people. Our website is a wealth of information that can inform residents about which vaccines are best, what vaccines they are eligible for, how long to wait between vaccinations.”

OPH creates neighborhood wellness centers in the community where immunization rates are lower.

“Residents with questions can stop by and ask questions to a public nurse, and when they’re ready, get their vaccine right there,” Jansson said.

Community COVID-19 levels remain high. This week, OPH reported seven new deaths from the virus, while reporting 367 new laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19.

“Our surveillance indicators continue to show that community-circulating COVID-19 levels are high,” Ottawa Public Health said in its weekly COVID-19 snapshot.

Some health experts are concerned, saying people are at greater risk as new variants emerge.

dr Nili Kaplan-Myrth is a family doctor. Throughout the pandemic, Kaplan-Myrth has held “Jabapalooza” events offering mass vaccination clinics to eligible residents.

Kaplan-Myrth says low vaccination rates could be due to “misinformation” that the pandemic is over.

“I don’t think people are getting their vaccine because they are misinformed. They’ve been told COVID is over and they’ve been referring to it in the past tense and they don’t understand how many patients are sick every day and how many end up in the hospital.”

Kaplan-Myrth adds, “Many of our patients have received their booster shots, most of whom have stepped up and wanted their bivalent drug as soon as it became available. Some of them had to wait because they had COVID-19, others just got their booster shot so are waiting 84 days for their bivalent vaccines.”

Kaplan-Myrth says she will be vaccinating teenagers against her bivalent boosters next week and is also giving her patient flu shots.

Kaplan-Myrth says people should always wear masks and continue to stay home when sick, especially when other viruses are circulating in the community.

For more information from Ottawa Public Health, visit their website.

To learn more about COVID-19 vaccines, click here.