Health-care workers are at an increased risk of COVID-19 infection due to their ongoing interactions and potential exposures to patients that are or may be infected with COVID-19 and can pose increased risk of transmission to vulnerable populations if infected.
Health-care workers are essential for maintaining health system capacity to minimize serious illness and overall deaths in Ontario while minimizing societal disruption as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recommendation:
At this time a booster dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine will be offered for the following groups:
- Health-care Workers who received their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at least 6 months (168 days) ago. Health-care Workers include:
- Any regulated health professionals and any staff member, contract worker, student/trainee, registered volunteer, or other designated essential caregiver currently working in-person in a health-care organization, including workers that are not providing direct patient care and are frequently in the patient environment (i.e. cleaning staff, research staff, other administrative staff).
- Workers providing health-care service or direct patient service in a congregate, residential or community setting outside of a health care organization.
Specific examples include:
- All hospital acute care staff including:
- Critical Care Units, Emergency Departments and Urgent Care Departments, COVID-19 Medical Units, Code Blue Teams, rapid response teams
- General internal medicine and other specialist, Surgical care, Obstetrics
- All patient-facing health-care workers/staff involved in the COVID-19 response:
- COVID-19 specimen Collection Centers, COVID-19 Isolation Centers
- Mobile Testing Teams, COVID-19 Laboratory Services, Teams supporting outbreak response (e.g., IPAC teams supporting outbreak management, inspectors in the patient environment)
- COVID-19 Vaccine clinics and mobile immunization teams
- Current members of Ontario’s Emergency Medical Assistance Team (EMAT)
- Medical First Responders (ORNGE, paramedics, firefighters providing medical first response, police and special constables providing medical first response as part of their regular duties).
- Health-care workers and designated essential caregivers in congregate settings (assisted living, correctional settings, shelters, LTCHs/RHs, supportive housing, hospices and palliative care settings, etc.)
- Home and community health-care workers, providing in-person care, including:
- Needle exchange/syringe programs & supervised consumption and treatment services
- Indigenous health care service providers including but not limited to: Aboriginal Health Access Centers, Indigenous Community Health Centers, Indigenous Interprofessional Primary Care Teams, and Indigenous Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinics
- Community health centres, chronic homecare, birth centres, dentistry and dental hygiene, Pharmacies, Primary Care, Walk-in clinics, gynecology/obstetrics, Midwifery, Nurse Practitioner-led clinics/Contract nursing agencies, Otolaryngology (ENT), medical and surgical specialties, medical transport, laboratory services, independent health facilities, health-care providers in developmental services, mental health and addictions services
- Health-care workers in school/daycare/campus, sexual health clinics, community diagnostic imaging, dietary/nutrition, audiology, naturopathy, holistic care, chiropractic, chronic pain clinics, kinesiology/physiotherapy, occupational therapy, psychiatry, acupuncture, registered massage therapy, psychotherapy, social work, public health
Provincial guidance:
COVID-19 Vaccine Third Dose Recommendations
