Toronto
Children aged five to 11 in Ontario will be able to book an appointment for a COVID-19 booster shot starting Thursday.
Ontario's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore, announced the rollout in a news conference today, part of a broader update on the province's preparations for the fall.
Health Canada said earlier this month it had approved Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine as a booster for children aged 5-11, to be administered at least six months after their second dose.
Vaccines for that age group were first approved last November.
Today's announcement comes as students in Ontario prepare to return to schools this fall for the first time without COVID-19 restrictions during the pandemic.
Data published by the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table shows wastewater signals, an early COVID-19 trend indicator, have ticked up since mid-August after declining for three weeks.
Moore said earlier this month that the province's seventh wave of COVID had peaked, with waves arriving in roughly three-month intervals.
At the time, he predicted a fall wave would not be as bad as previously expected, given so many people have been infected with the Omicron variant, combined with protection from high vaccination rates and the absence of a new variant of concern.
As well, Moore says people who test positive for COVID-19 no longer have to isolate for five days but should stay home until their fever clears and their symptoms have improved for at least 24 hours.
He says people should also wear a mask "in any setting" for 10 full days from the start of their symptoms, even if they feel better.
Moore says the province is moving away from COVID-19-specific guidance in favour of an "all-virus approach," meaning the guidelines apply to other illnesses such as the flu.
Banner image: Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health speaks at a press conference during the COVID-19 pandemic, at Queen’s Park in Toronto on Monday, April 11, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 31, 2022.
