Canada’s Ontario province is set to offer third COVID-19 vaccine doses to people who are high-risk, beginning this week, reported the chief medical officer.

Eligible individuals for the third vaccine dose include transplant recipients, and people living in high-risk settings, such as long-term care homes and indigenous elder care lodges. Canada has one of the best vaccination rates globally, with over 82% of eligible individuals having received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 71% have been fully vaccinated. Active cases are still rising in the fourth wave driven largely by the Delta variant.

The government has made it compulsory for hospitals, long-term and community care service providers to ask all staff, employees, contractors, students as well as volunteers to provide proof of full vaccination, a medical reason if they are not vaccinated, or completion of a COVID-19 vaccine educational seminar… (Reuters, August 18, 2021)