Are people getting old COVID vaccines because they don't realize the fresh version isn't here yet?

The trees in my backyard are turning red and orange, the morning air is cool enough to warrant a sweater and the evening rampage of mosquitos has ended. In short, it looks like fall, it smells like fall and, we’ve been told the fall holds a promise of new COVID vaccines targeting the new XBB.1.5 subvariant variant. Previously, we’ve also been told to wait. “Effective July 7, 2023, individuals aged five years and older should consider delaying their COVID-19 booster dose until Fall 2023.” When the monovalent Moderna vaccine, targeting just the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant, was approved for use in Canada on Sept. 12, 2023, Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, told us that, “We will have enough supply of the updated COVID-19 vaccines to support immunization programs across Canada.” So, as we prepare to gather for Thanksgiving, where are they? They’re missing. And what’s missing is not just the vaccines but proper communication of the fact that they’re not actually available yet, and information about exactly when they will be available. Encouraged by the fall weather, worried about their waning vaccines and the fact that these new updated vaccines are available in the United States, I’ve encountered people who’ve gonr ahead and booked their COVID fall vaccine, only then to receive the old bivalent BA.4/5 vaccine. Brad Macleod, an educator, who was not told that he was receiving the old vaccine when he asked for his fall vaccine. He will now be less protected and was told he’d have to wait six months for his updated version, by the same pharmacy who failed to communicate with him properly in the first place. If this isn’t a travesty, I don’t know what is. My own son booked his vaccine and, being wary of the availability, I called the provincial booking line and was told he is best to go to the appointment and ask there. This hardly seemed reasonable. Luckily, Ottawa Public Health told me it was not the new updated vaccine because . . . they have none. So how is this effective communication to the public at large? How many will get the old vaccine simply through a lack of effective communication? As people scramble to get protected, there isn’t effective communication to tell them when the new updated vaccines will be available in their region. So, in the absence of this, we have the revival of the Vaccine Hunger Games. Luckily, Andrew Young, the founder of Vaccine Hunters has created a site that checks vaccine availability in the various Public Health Units regularly. The site gives everyone the information that has been hard to come by in other ways. I sincerely hope, after writing numerous times about botched rollouts that allow many people to get infected, that this is my last article on that issue. Surely, there must be a learning curve in vaccine rollouts. Dr. Mary Fernando is an Ottawa physician.

Are people getting old COVID vaccines because they don't realize the fresh version isn't here yet?

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