Here’s what you need to know about 4th doses of COVID vaccine – CBC
Some nations widely offering 4th shot but benefits still unclear
Jan 19, 2022
If you’ve heard that Israel is well underway administering fourth doses of COVID-19 vaccine, you may be wondering if it will soon be time to hunt for another vaccine appointment yourself.
It’s long been the plan to offer immunocompromised Canadians a three-dose primary series of shots followed by a booster, but it’s not clear yet that a fourth round of vaccine is necessary for the broader population.
Israel’s situation is a little different, explains virologist Darryl Falzarano, a research scientist at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, who studies virus transmission as well as immune response to infection.
“Israel’s vaccine campaign started earlier, so they’re longer out from their third dose than a lot of other places, so they’re in a slightly different position,” said Falzarano, who is also a deputy with the Coronavirus Variants Rapid Response Network (CoVaRR-Net), a group of researchers that advises the federal government on how to respond to SARS-CoV-2 variants.
