Alberta teens eligible for bivalent boosters starting Monday, experts want parents to know

Some experts are worried Alberta parents aren't getting the message that, for the first time, teenagers will be eligible for COVID-19 bivalent boosters next week.

Last week, the provincial government announced that Pfizer's bivalent shot would be available to everyone 12 and up starting on Monday.

Health Canada authorized this vaccine, which targets the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, earlier this month.

Moderna's bivalent booster, targeting the original and Omicron BA.1 variants, was already available to Albertans 18 and up, making this the first time 12- to 17-year-olds will have access to a vaccine formulated to fight the predominant strains.

The late Wednesday press release came without much fanfare.

Much like the announcement of Moderna's bivalent vaccine in September, no press conference was held and there was no mention on key government twitter feeds, including those of Health Minister Jason Copping, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw and Alberta Health.

"I was unaware of [this]. And I am … a parent of a child that falls in this age range … as well as being a researcher in this field," said Shannon MacDonald, an associate professor at the University of Alberta.

She leads a team studying immunization policy and practice through the faculty of nursing and school of public health.

"Part of me is embarrassed that I didn't even know about this and part of me is thinking, "OK, if somebody like me who is really attuned to this topic missed this, I wonder … does the average parent have any idea this is going on?'"

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MacDonald was relieved to find out the bivalent is set to roll out on Monday.

"The fact is the pandemic isn't over. And we're heading into fall, which we know from previous years is a time when cases rose and hospitalizations increased," she said.

"I think it's really critical that we stay on top of getting our kids and ourselves boosted for COVID."

Transmission growing

The number of Albertans hospitalized with the virus has been rising for weeks now. The latest provincial data show there are 1,070 in hospital, including 33 in intensive care.

"We do know that COVID is still in the community. Its numbers are creeping up. It is still circulating," said Craig Jenne, associate professor in the department of microbiology, immunology and infectious diseases at the University of Calgary.

"We're now in that range where these [teens] will be due for a booster, and having access to a booster that is more finely tuned to the viral variants in the community now is an important tool to help protect these younger Albertans."

Jenne wants parents to know Pfizer's bivalent booster will be available to teens starting Oct. 24.

"I'm not sure if people are aware that this is out there. We haven't seen any podium-based announcements that this [is starting]. But this has very much been the same for most of the pediatric or childhood vaccines here in Alberta," said Jenne.

"Although these individuals are at lower risk, they're not at zero risk, and we need to keep that in mind. We are beginning to understand now the impacts of long COVID and other medical conditions that can happen following clearance of COVID."

'Pro-vaccine' message missing

This is the latest example of a larger shift away from COVID-19 messaging from the provincial government, according to Lorian Hardcastle, an associate professor in the faculties of law and medicine at the University of Calgary.

She believes the province is doing a much less effective job of informing Albertans about the availability of vaccines than it did earlier in the pandemic.

"They're no longer actively encouraging people to get vaccinated. Certainly the premier is doing the opposite. The premier is spending her time talking about freedom to not be vaccinated," she said. 

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This could compound problems ahead of another predicted COVID surge as the weather gets colder and people move indoors, this time with no public health measures in place, she warned.

"I think that they've really just backed off on the issue of vaccines, and it's really problematic," said Hardcastle.

"Before it was highly publicized on Twitter … we had regular press conferences with the chief medical officer of health. Both the minister of health and the premier would bring up vaccines at their press conferences, and we're really not getting that same messaging anymore."

Hardcastle worries this lack of messaging will translate to even lower vaccine uptake in the months to come.

"The lack of pro-vaccine messaging from government doesn't help with any of that."