Interest in 3rd dose of COVID vaccine high among ineligible Albertans, pharmacists say

Some Alberta pharmacists say uptake is slower than they expected for third doses of the COVID vaccine since the province expanded eligibility to some high-risk groups earlier this month, but interest is high among those who can't yet access it.

On Nov. 8, Alberta began offering third booster shots to everyone 70 and up, all First Nations, Inuit and Métis people 18 and up, many front-line health-care workers and people who received  two doses of AstraZeneca or one dose of Johnson and Johnson abroad.

People are required to wait at least six months between their second and third shots.

According to Alberta Health, an estimated 600,000 people became eligible with that expansion. And while it couldn't provide a breakdown by category, it said 42,125 third doses have been administered since the change came into effect. 

"It's quite surprising, actually," said Greg Bueckert, pharmacist and owner of Greg's Remedy's Rx Pharmacy in Medicine Hat.

"There just has not been the interest in actually coming in and getting vaccinated."

Bueckert was expecting a rush of people eager to get their third doses after the announcement earlier this month.

"We do have people coming in. But not like anticipated. We expected it to be much busier," said Bueckert, who is still busy giving out first and second doses.

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The pharmacy is hearing from a lot of people who aren't yet eligible. So, too, is Mathieu Giroux, a pharmacist at Cambrian Pharmacy in Calgary.

"We get a lot of questions, actually, from 70 and under since Health Canada decided to extend to 18 and up," he said.

"We've almost got the two extremes now, like people want more and more vaccine even if they don't qualify yet. And then on the other spectrum, we still have some people that really don't want it at all."

Health Canada has approved third dose booster shots from both Pfizer and Moderna for people 18 and up. But Alberta is not yet offering boosters to anyone beyond those in the high-risk groups it has already priortized.

During a news conference on Tuesday, Dr. Deena Hinshaw said the province is reviewing the available data.

"We do continue to assess the evidence. We are looking to see if there's any additional guidance coming from the national advisory committee [on immunization]. So we don't have a fixed timeline on when we might be updating that eligibility," said the province's chief medical officer of health.

Hinshaw noted people who don't fit into one of the risk categories currently eligible have "very good protection against severe outcomes" even if they experience a breakthrough infection.

She said the World Health Organization has asked countries to hold off on further expansion until the new year to allow other countries with much lower vaccine rates access to supplies.

"We also want to make sure that we don't in some ways waste vaccine protection by giving boosters too soon, which, again, we're looking at not just protection right now but we need to think about protection in the long term. And the timing of boosters and how all that fits together is something that is not a straight forward decision," Hinshaw said.

Alberta has administered 328,070 third doses of the COVID-19 vaccine so far.

Prior to Nov. 8, the province offered booster shots to residents of continuing care homes, some immunocompromised Albertans 12 and up,  all Albertans 75 and up, and all First Nations, Metis and Inuit people 65 and over.