Immune-compromised Islander told she's not eligible for COVID vaccine booster – but she is

A 62-year-old Prince Edward Islander, taking prescribed immune suppressants, was worried when she was told last week she was not eligible to receive a fourth COVID-19 vaccine shot.

Last week, the Chief Public Health Office opened up second booster shots for Islanders who are 70 or older, people living in long-term care and community care homes and Indigenous Islanders who are 18 years or older.

North Rustico resident Heather Stubbings doesn't fall into any of those categories. She does, however, have severe rheumatoid arthritis and has been taking immune-suppressing drugs to treat that condition for 14 years.

When she called the vaccine information line to try to book an appointment, she was told the only immune-suppressed Islanders eligible for a vaccine were cancer patients.

"I wasn't very happy," Stubbings told Island Morning host Laura Chapin.

"I just feel like my life is going to be restricted even further. Being on immune suppressors, you are very prone to picking up anything."

Stubbings said she has rarely gone into a grocery store since the pandemic began. She had started going out to restaurants again, but stopped when the Vax Pass was discontinued.

Not a second booster

CBC News contacted the Chief Public Health Office and was told an Islander in Stubbings's situation would be eligible for a fourth shot.

The confusion stems from a misunderstanding of what qualifies as a booster.

For an immune-compromised person, it takes three doses to be fully vaccinated. For those people, the fourth dose qualifies as a first booster. Stubbings would qualify not for a second booster, as announced last week, but she would for a first booster.

First boosters are available five and a half months after you received your last dose. Stubbings had her last shot on Oct. 1, six and a half months ago.

The Chief Public Health Office is encouraging people to make sure they are current on their COVID-19 vaccinations. More than half of Islanders have not yet received a booster shot.