Earlier this month, the province of New Brunswick opened up eligibility to COVID-19 booster shots to include anyone over 65 whose second shot was more than 6 months ago. In addition, health care and school workers are eligible, along with people who are immune-compromised. People who received one or two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine are also eligible, as well as people with mixed doses who need to travel outside of North America for essential reasons.
On Wednesday in Sackville, the Vitalité Health Network is running a walk-in vaccination clinic at the Sackville Visitor Information Centre from 9am to 4pm. The clinic is open to anyone 12 years and older, and is administering either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines. But walk-in appointments are only available to those getting a first or second shot of a vaccine. For third or booster doses, public health is asking people to make appointments online.
In Sackville, appointments are bookable through public health for the occasional Vitalité clinic hosted in town, but people are also able to book online to get doses through the Corner Drug Store pharmacy.
Recently I spoke with Corner Drug Store pharmacist and owner Charles Beaver with some questions about booster shots and more.
Q: Both Moderna and Pfizer are available for the the third dose or booster shot. How do people know which one they should be requesting?
Charles Beaver: There are folks who want to have their third one be the same as the first two, which makes sense to me. The vast majority now have Pfizer as their second dose. Although there are folks who had both first and second doses as Moderna, in which case, if they choose to do Moderna for the third dose, they certainly can.
There’s some studies that show perhaps maybe you get a better response by mixing and matching, but the recommendation is that folks should get a booster dose with an mRNA vaccine. And that would be either Pfizer or Moderna.
Of course people who had AstraZeneca as their first and second doses, we can’t give that as a third dose simply because we don’t have it available to us now. So they would want to pick probably a Pfizer since that’s what’s most readily available.
Q: Previously in your booking system, people could sign up and you would let them know as soon as they were eligible. Is that a similar thing to what you have in place now? If it’s not quite six months since your second dose, could you just put your name in and then you’ll be in the queue for when the time comes?
Charles Beaver: Absolutely, that’s the very best thing to do. When people go to register for a third dose, for a booster dose, there’s quite a bit of information that the system will ask for including which vaccines you received and your dates of your first and second doses. And that gives us the ability to very quickly and efficiently send out the invitations just as soon as the person is eligible to receive that vaccination.
Q: I know a lot of people are waiting anxiously for children or younger kids to become eligible. What will be happening at the Corner Drug once the five to 11 year old cohort becomes eligible?
Charles Beaver: We’ve thought long and hard about that question. We’re still vaccinating seven days a week to keep up with the demand for first, second and third doses as well as the influenza vaccine. And we simply don’t have more capacity to offer.
I’ve been very glad, though, to have conversations with Public Health and I’m aware that plans are in place to promptly vaccinate the majority of the 750ish children in that age cohort in our region within the first week or two following the announcement, on Saturdays and Sundays. So it sounds like the the plans are well in place for Public Health to get that done. And we’ve offered our support, however, this time around it won’t be done physically at the pharmacy for sure.
Q: You mentioned the flu shot. Can people get their flu shot at the same time as getting their booster dose?
Charles Beaver: That’s a great question. We now have information to show that it’s safe and effective to get your flu shot and your COVID vaccination. They could be done at the same time, they could be done one a day after the other, they could be done a week apart. So without regard to the other in terms of timing. So if it’s more convenient for someone to get both at the same time, it certainly is an option.
Q: When I got my second dose, I needed to take a day off afterwards. Should people sort of plan to take it easy after they get the booster?
Charles Beaver: I just had my third dose. It’s been six months since I had my second. I had mild, sort of discomfort in the shoulder, maybe feeling slightly off that next day. But I was scheduled to and was able to work my full shift, of course.
I think it’s wise that somebody allow for that possibility. However, the majority of people do seem to be able to go about their daily tasks without issue. Perhaps one in five might find it’s a little bit much and want to take a down day the next day.
Q: Have you kept track of how many third doses you’ve administered so far?
Charles Beaver: Not specifically third doses, although the last tally shows that we will surpass 9000 total doses given by the end of this week, from the Corner Drug Store. So things are moving along. And about 700 influenza vaccines, which is more than any prior year already.
