What to know about the updated COVID-19 vaccines

as fall approaches for many it will be time to think about getting flu shots and covid-19 shots ctv's medical expert Dr Mara Shapiro is joining me this morning with more good morning Dr Marley good to see you so there are updated covid shots approved in the US not yet though here in Canada nope not yet in Canada so hang on hang right really hang on because the xbb which is the strain that we would have been vaccinated against or you may have been boosted in the spring this is not what we want you to be taking there are updated shots both Mna and fizer and there's also an updated Novac shot novax is a different it's not a messenger RNA it's a protein subunit so for the FDA approval of Monna and fizer and we assume here as well it will be for six months and older the novavax vaccines are indicated for age 12 and older and that may be for people who really don't want to take another messenger RNA vaccine but you know we've seen Evolution and as usual Co is very good mutating and it's mutated into what we now call this flirt variant and it's called the flirt variant or the flip variants because of the way they've been named now so the names are a little bit different they're now after letters and what we saw in the spring was this movement towards jn1 and now that's evolving to KP so J goes to K N goes to P that's how they're being named and that's what we're expecting for the fall glut and that's where the vaccines have been changed they're no longer xbb okay so it's not like these other vaccines are harmful they're just not as effective not as they're just outdated I guess well that's that it's like last year's flu shot for this year flu season it's that type of analog you know if you had the vaccines you have an element of protection but not the protection we're recommending that you need for the variants that are now you know taking over and expected to really be here well they're already here and continuing to go through the fall and winter months gotcha okay so what should people consider when it is available able here in Canada what should they be asking themselves so this is the season it's happening so what you should be asking yourself is when was my last covid vaccine and did I have a covid infection so for the messenger RNA vaccines we're saying at least two months after the last dose which is a much shorter interval than what we used to say that's what the Americans are saying maybe in Canada we'll say three to five we'll have to wait to see what nasy guidance is our Canadian Advisory Group if you've had a covid infection your antibodies will protect you for a while but it's not unreasonable to get a newer vaccine through 3 months after the documented covid vaccine at the co illness that you've had and that's Co that you've had in let's say the last month or so because that's what we've seen bear in mind that the recommendation is for everybody over the age of six months but who gets into hospitals typically what we always say anybody over the age of 65 the highest mortality and the highest illnesses of those 75 and older and infants under the age of six months remember infants under the age of six months cannot be vaccinated they're too young I don't need to tell you that there is this vaccine fatigue yes uh please remind us why it's important to get the shot so when patients come in and say to me this is my eighth my ninth my seventh I I say to them this is no different than seasonal flu we get a flu vaccine every year and what happens with flu vaccines what happens with covid vaccines is that our antibodies that protect us from the vaccine they basically are going to WAN over time and the antibodies that we have from the previous vaccines for these for vaccines not really the vaccines that are oriented towards this particular variant this new strain jn1 and kp1 it needs a vaccine that's aimed for it we do have a vaccine that's a really good match for jn1 and kp1 and we know that the updated covid-19 shots will do a much better job in terms of providing protection I just have a few seconds left in terms of spacing out the shots Mara uh should you do that can you do it on the same day flu and Co you certainly flu Co you can as far as RSV is concerned you know the guidance still is to separate it by a couple of weeks but basically I say to a patient am I going to lose you to come back for a second shot if I don't give them all to you today so getting flu and Co at the same time we're still waiting for flu shots as well that usually is the third week in October and we're hoping that these Co shots are out there any minute Dr Mara thanks so much appreciate it bye for now