Manitoba seeks public opinion on new COVID vaccine

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This article was published 24/08/2022 (1454 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitobans are being asked to share their opinion on a potential new COVID-19 vaccine that protects against Omicron and the original strain of the virus.

The provincial government is surveying citizens about their desire to receive an Omicron-targeted booster shot and factors that could affect their decision to roll up their sleeve for a bivalent vaccine.

“A bivalent COVID-19 vaccine is anticipated to be approved by Health Canada in the coming weeks,” the province states in its EngageMB survey, which closes on Sept. 9. “It is unknown what age indication will be approved by Health Canada but could be as low as 12 years of age.”

Health Canada is reviewing submissions for messenger RNA vaccines developed by both Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech that are tailored to the BA.1 Omicron variant.

The federal government has purchased 4.5 million doses of Moderna’s bivalent booster shot and moved a scheduled delivery of 1.5 million doses from 2023 to 2022.

Ahead of a planned fall COVID-19 vaccination campaign, public health officials in Manitoba are looking for feedback on public perception of COVID-19 and risk.

The survey asks people to rank their level of concern over catching the virus, experiencing severe symptoms, spreading it to family and friends, and the effect on children, the province and the economy.

When it comes to the new vaccine, the province is polling people on their willingness to be immunized for a third or fourth time.

The survey asks whether information about vaccine safety and efficacy, the prevalence of COVID-19 in the community, vaccination requirements, and religious beliefs would influence their decision to be vaccinated.

A section of the survey is targeted to parents and guardians of children age 12 to 17, as the booster shot may be approved for people in that age group.

The province needs to communicate why COVID-19 booster shots are important to counter vaccine fatigue and skepticism about efficacy in light of the Omicron surge, according to one public health expert.

“I think one of the biggest disconnects for many people is that we’re familiar with how vaccines work for a lot of routine immunizations,” said community health sciences Prof. Michelle Driedger at the University of Manitoba. Parents, for instance, are familiar with routine vaccination for their children to prevent disease, she said.

“Typically you don’t need to have boosters, once you’ve completed your course of immunizations,” said Driedger, who has conducted focus groups on the matter.

“With COVID-19, I think one of the biggest challenges for a lot of people is understanding the fact that while we have pretty good vaccine rates in our country and we see high rates and other countries, there’s a whole host of countries on a global level that don’t have good access to vaccines.”

The lack of access to vaccines in some parts of the world has created an environment for new COVID-19 variants to develop.

“Because we’re travelling again, these things can move so quickly and easily,” the professor said.

“With the new bivalent vaccine, that might be approved sometime in the fall, it will at least include both that same kind of protection that we’ve had from the earlier vaccines, as well as incorporating some measure of effectiveness against some of these variants.”

Before fall and the flu season arrive, that message needs to be conveyed to COVID-weary Manitobans through multimedia campaigns and primary care providers.

“The only thing that will work effectively is, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat,” Driedger said.

Currently approved COVID-19 vaccines will continue to be available at physicians’ offices and pharmacies, the province said.

— with files from Carol Sanders

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca