Vigilance required in COVID fight: Tam

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It’s going to be difficult to predict what the next wave of COVID-19, or any future health crisis, will look like, but more protections have arrived for the younger population, says Canada’s top doctor.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/08/2022 (1283 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s going to be difficult to predict what the next wave of COVID-19, or any future health crisis, will look like, but more protections have arrived for the younger population, says Canada’s top doctor.

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, said in comments at a Friday news conference there are still a lot of unknowns over COVID as it mutates and the country races to immunize the population against the omicron variants.

The latest weapon against the disease has arrived, though. She announced Health Canada approved Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine as a booster dose for children aged five to 11.

The 10-microgram booster dose can be given at least six months after completing a primary series of two doses of the vaccine, Tam said.

“This booster dose provides a great option to restore protection for this age group, especially for those who are at high risk for illness,” she said. “Getting vaccines up-to-date this fall is a top priority for public health.”

This approval is coming as the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) released recommendations saying that children aged five to 11 with a pre-existing medical condition that places them at high risk of severe illness from COVID-19, such as being immunocompromised, and received three first doses, should get a booster dose.

For all others in the five-to-11 cohort, NACI recommends that a booster dose may be offered at least six months after completing the primary series of the COVID-19 vaccine.

NACI’s recommendations say a longer interval between doses may result in a better response after any subsequent dose because it allows time for the immune response to mature.

A bivalent vaccine will be available for use in adults in the coming months, but it is unclear if there will be a pediatric bivalent vaccine available. Trials are still underway.

Another vaccine option for this group is coming as vaccine uptake is lower than older-age groups, with about 42 per cent of five- to 11-year-olds vaccinated with two doses, according to federal data as of July 17. Older demographics are around 83 per cent or higher.

Across the country, COVID activity seems to be stabilizing or declining, Tam said, indicating many regions have either hit or passed the peak of the seventh wave. However, that doesn’t mean the country is completely safe from future waves and variants. Canada and the rest of the world must prepare for new variants to emerge in the coming months, Tam said.

Even with high vaccination rates, there is still many things people can do to slow the spread of COVID, as well as other contagious respiratory viruses, like influenza.

“Wearing masks in poorly ventilated spaces, hand washing and staying home when you have symptoms have shown to help.”

No one is sure what a new variant will look like or how it will behave, explained Tam. The omicron variants are very different from the original COVID virus.

More vaccines are coming, including bivalent ones that are supposed to protect against a wider array of variants. While the summer months have typically been slow for spread, Tam pointed out this is when the B.A.5 variant arrived and caused a summer wave and a surge in hospitalizations and deaths.

Once fall arrives, she said, it is likely that transmission will increase as people head indoors more often.

“We want people to return to normal lives, but people still need to layer on those protections,” she said. “It’s possible, although we can’t really say, we could get a bigger wave than the summer. We definitely have to plan for it, even though we can’t absolutely predict it at this time.”

For other diseases, Tam said, it is paramount everyone gets caught up in their vaccines as people return to work and children head back to school in the fall.

Along with COVID, Canada is monitoring the development of monkeypox at home and internationally. Nationally, there are 1,168 confirmed cases in Canada, including 30 hospitalizations.

Tam said data is showing the spread of monkeypox is slowing. That same data shows 99 per cent of the cases were in men, and the median age is 36 years old.

As of Friday, Manitoba reported its first confirmed case of monkeypox. Dr. Jazz Atwal, Manitoba’s deputy chief provincial public health officer, announced Friday they were not giving out details on the person to protect their health and safety, but did say they are contacting and testing close contacts of the person.

He added this was likely an isolated case.

“The risk to the general public remains low, but it is important for everyone to be aware of monkeypox, so those that are at risk can take steps to reduce their risk and seek care and get tested if they develop symptoms,” he said.

Symptoms of monkeypox are typically flu-like, including fever, headaches, muscle and back aches, chills, exhaustion and swollen lymph nodes. The province said several days after symptoms appear, a rash may also show up typically on the face, hand palms or soles of the feet.

To combat the spread, Public Health Agency of Canada has distributed more than 105,000 doses of Imvamune vaccine across the country, with 59,000 people vaccinated with at least one dose as of Aug. 14.

Many of these are preventative, Tam explained, but people are being asked to reduce their risk by practising safe sex and reducing the number of partners one has.

» kmckinley@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @karenleighmcki1

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