GUELPH – We may soon be looking at annual vaccinations for COVID-19.
In a report to the board of health, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health (WDGPH) medical officer of health Dr. Nicola Mercer said an announcement from the Health Ministry recommending annual vaccines against the coronavirus is expected in the coming weeks.
“There will be new guidance on the vaccine,” Mercer said.
“I think we’ll be looking at annual COVID shots, much like the flu shot.”
She added COVID-19 case numbers are steadying “and while hospital admissions are not zero, we’re heading to more normal numbers.
“We’re closer to baseline than I have seen in a number of months.”
However, cases of other vaccine-preventable diseases have been reported recently and that’s causing public health some concern.
DR. NICOLA MERCER
(WDGPH photo)
Two cases of measles – one in London and one in Toronto – have been reported and Mercer stressed how easily measles can spread.
WDGPH had a cluster of nine measles cases in 2008, Mercer said.
In one case, the infected person entered a big box store and an unimmunized staff member at the back of the store was infected.
“It’s a reminder that it does not take a lot to reintroduce these diseases into the population,” she said.
There is also an increase in cases of pertussis, or whooping cough, another vaccine-preventable disease.
In her report to the board, manager of infectious diseases Lilliana Marinko said as of Feb. 7, there have been three probable cases of pertussis in the WDGPH region – cases where the patients had been under-immunized.
Children receive their first pertussis vaccine at two months and are recommended to have five doses by the time they are six years old.
Booster shots are recommended for teenagers and adults and in the last trimester of pregnancy to protect newborn babies.
Many children fell behind with immunizations during the pandemic.
Public health is stepping up efforts to remind parents to get themselves and their children up to date.
On the good news front, while WDGPH reported six confirmed cases of mpox (formerly called monkey pox) between June and September 2022, no new cases have been reported in the region since October.
