Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
As provinces and territories work to inoculate their populations against COVID-19, questions are swirling over whether booster shots will soon be required for individuals to be considered “fully vaccinated.”
In October, Israel announced that those with two doses of a COVID-19 shot would not be considered “fully vaccinated” unless they got a third jab.
What’s more, last month, French President Emmanuel Macron announced people 65 and over would need to present proof of a COVID-19 booster shot by mid-December in order to receive their vaccination passport.
Currently, booster shots are not required in Canada to receive a vaccination passport, but campaigns are underway across the country to offer third doses to those most vulnerable to the disease.
Dr. Nazeem Muhajarine is an epidemiologist in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Asked by CTV’s Your Morning whether booster shots could become a requirement in Canada in order to be considered fully vaccinated, Muhajarine said it is an “evolving situation.”
He said the reason both Israel and France are now requiring booster shots in order for residents to considered fully vaccinated is because they began offering the third doses earlier than Canada.
“So they have had a long experience in boosting their population compared to Canada,” he explained. “That being said, I think, you know, give it two, three months, I can’t see how we will not follow a similar approach to Israel, and that is people who are eligible to get a third shot and completed that would be considered fully vaccinated at that time.”
However, Muhajarine said that won’t happen for a while.
“I think because there is a wide variety of ways that provinces [are] introducing their booster eligibility,” he said.
Muhajarine pointed to Saskatchewan which lowered its booster eligibility age to 50 on Tuesday.
Officials in the province announced COVID-19 boosters would be available for healthcare workers and residents 50 and older in Saskatchewan, and to anyone 18 or older who is living in the far north or in First Nations communities.
Researchers have found that the immunity from two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine wanes over time, meaning Canadians will require another dose to “boost” their immunity to the virus.
Asked whether the public will need booster shots every six months for the foreseeable future, Muhajarine said “I would think so.”
He said the growing consensus is that COVID-19 is “here to stay with us for a while.”
“And it will, kind of revolve into endemic situation meaning, low incidence or prevalence of this COVID-19, and it will become like a seasonal flu, hopefully,” he said. “And so, in order to actually protect ourselves, we would probably need to boost our immune system, seasonally speaking even from time to time.”
He said that is “probably the direction we are headed right now.”
The National Advisory Committee for Immunization (NACI) released updated guidance last week, outlining several sections of the Canadian population that it said should receive a booster shot at least six months after having had their primary vaccine series.
NACI said it “strongly recommends” an mRNA booster shot be offered to those over 50, seniors living in long-term care homes and other congregate living facilities, and to those who received a viral vector COVID-19 vaccine series such as AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson.
The committee also said it strongly recommends First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples and frontline healthcare workers should also be provided a booster shot.
NACI has also recommended booster doses for those between the ages of 18 and 49, at least six months after they received their primary vaccine series.
While NACI issues guidance and recommendations, it is ultimately up to provinces and territories to decide how vaccine rollout will work within their jurisdiction.
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.