Ontario expands eligibility for COVID-19 vaccine boosters to 2.75M more people
CBC
Ontario's chief medical officer of health will reveal details on Wednesday of the province's plan to roll out COVID-19 booster shots, the government says.
Dr. Kieran Moore is set to hold a news conference at 1 p.m. ET. You'll be able to watch it live in this story.
Last week, Health Minister Christine Elliott said the plan will include "information to all Ontarians on when they can expect to receive a third dose" of COVID-19 vaccine, but provided no further specifics.
Elliott's comments came after Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) recommended booster shots for adults aged 80 and older and opened the door for some other groups that may be at increased risk of lowered protection over time since their initial vaccinations.
Those groups included:
Ontario is currently offering third shots to long-term care residents, transplant recipients, some cancer patients and people receiving specific medications.
British Columbia, meanwhile, has said anyone in the province who wants a booster shot of an mRNA vaccine will be able to get one by May 2022.
Meanwhile, Ontario reported 378 new cases of COVID-19 this morning, as the seven-day average of daily infections rose for a third straight day after nearly two months of decline.
Today's case count is up from Wednesday last week, when the province logged 321 infections. It comes after Monday and Tuesday also saw week-over-week increases.
Because testing levels in Ontario are generally cyclical, it's often most illuminating to compare the same days of the week when identifying potential trends in pandemic data.
The seven-day average of daily cases climbed to 379.
Here are some key pandemic indicators and figures from the Ministry of Health's daily provincial update:
Patients in ICU with COVID-related illnesses: 137, with 79 relying on a ventilator to breathe.
Tests completed in previous 24 hours: 32,950, with a 1.4 per cent provincewide positivity rate.
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