What you need to know about Nova Scotia's spring COVID-19 booster

An additional COVID-19 vaccine booster is now available for Nova Scotia's most at-risk populations.

On Friday, public health announced it would offer a spring dose for people at highest risk due to the virus, if their last dose was more than six months ago.

According to public health, the following people should get a spring dose if their last dose was more than six months (168 days) ago:

• Adults 80 years of age or older
• Adults living in long-term care, nursing homes, senior congregate living settings or residential care facilities
• Adults who meet criteria for being moderately to severely immunocompromised.

Public health says these groups, especially those who haven't yet had COVID-19, can consider receiving a spring dose:

• Adults 65 to 79 years old
• People of African descent aged 50 to 79 years old
• First Nations people aged 50 to 79 years old.

This spring dose will only be available until June 30.

Dr. Shelley Deeks, the deputy chief medical officer of health, spoke with CBC Radio's Portia Clark about what people need to know about the next round of boosters.

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity and length. 

Why that younger group of people of African descent and First Nations people?

We recognize that people of African descent and First Nations people have experienced and continue to experience racism, social and economic factors, that put them at highest risk for developing COVID and also they are at higher risk of having severe illness and hospitalization, if they do get a COVID infection.

Therefore, in consultation with health leaders from both the African and First Nations communities, we've lowered the age eligibility for people of African descent and First Nations.

What are the plans to roll out spring boosters for the rest of the population? 

There are no plans. This is the spring booster campaign, so the the current eligibility, as I said, are they are the people at highest risk of severe disease.

Why is that? Why just restricting it to those groups and not broadening it out to the the general population?

We are seeing relatively stable disease activities and we know that there's high levels of protection or antibodies from COVID-19, either from the vaccines or for infection. So NACI, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization, is only recommending a spring dose for those at highest risk and Nova Scotia is following NACI's advice.

For people who are concerned that their last vaccine has worn off,  maybe they've never had COVID, what would you say to their concerns, since they don't have access to a spring booster?

I would, first of all, say to Nova Scotians who aren't up-to-date in all the recommended doses, that they should receive all the vaccines that they are eligible for. We know that there are a number of Nova Scotians who haven't received the dose since the fall and they remain eligible.

And then of course, anyone who hasn't had their primary series remain eligible as well. The other thing to keep in mind is that although we have seen waning protection from doses of vaccine as you get further away from your dose, we know that the protection continues to last, it just doesn't disappear at six months and so that's important for people to be aware of as well.

Is there a seasonality to the virus as we head toward the warmer months? Maybe it's less of a concern and then the fall is when a wider program might be considered again for boosters?

That is exactly right. So right now there's uncertainty around the evolution of the pandemic. Typically for respiratory viruses, we don't see much activity in the spring and summer months, but we do see a lot of activity on the incidence increases in the in the fall. so that is what we're used to for influenza and RSV.

At this point in time, we're not certain if COVID-19 will have another peak in the late fall or winter, similar to other respiratory viruses, but we are anticipating and preparing for for that. As we've seen with influenza vaccine, we often have fall campaigns.

Is there evidence that our immunity to the virus has been changing over time? We know the virus itself has been changing with all these new versions.

No, there's no evidence that the immunity to the virus has has changed over time

The spring boosters for those who qualify and are considered vulnerable, you're encouraging people to log on and make their appointments right away for those?

Absolutely. We really want Nova Scotians who are most vulnerable, and that is those older people or those with moderate to severely immunocompromised conditions, to get this spring dose and they can book it now.