As of this morning at 8 o’clock, individuals aged 50 and over are now eligible to schedule their COVID-19 vaccine booster shots in response to rising cases of the Omicron variant.
Locally, appointments can be booked at covidvaccinelm.ca, as long as your second dose was administered over 168 days ago.
Beginning in January, Ontario will further expand eligibility for booster doses based on age and risk, with an interval of six to eight months from the second dose.
Who is eligible for a booster dose:
- People who are 50 or older
- Transplant recipients
- Patients with hematological cancers
- Recipients of an anti-CD20 agent
- Residents of high-risk congregate settings including long-term care homes, higher-risk licensed retirement homes and First Nations elder care lodges
- Patients undergoing active treatment for solid tumors
- Recipients of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T-cell
- People with moderate or severe primary immunodeficiency
- People with stage 3 or advanced untreated HIV infection and those with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
- People undergoing active treatment with some categories of immunosuppressive therapies
- People who live in a retirement home
- Seniors who live in congregate settings such as assisted-living facilities, chronic care hospitals and congregate senior’s apartment buildings
- People taking other immunosuppressant medications (contact your doctor to find out if you’re eligible)
- People aged 70 and older (born in 1951 or earlier); the Chief Medical Officer of Health recommends that preference be given to the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for individuals aged 70 and over receiving their booster dose, based on evidence of increased vaccine effectiveness in this age group.
- Health care workers (read the list of eligible health care workers)
- Designated essential caregivers in congregate settings (including long-term care home and retirement home staff and designated caregivers)
- People who received two doses of AstraZeneca or one dose of Janssen (a complete series of a viral vector vaccine)
- First Nation, Inuit, and/or Métis adults and their household members
- People receiving dialysis (hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis)
