With fall approaching, the Ontario government said it is stepping up and expanding the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) program to connect more people to RSV vaccines to offset the respiratory illness season.
Ontario health minister Sylvia Jones said this will help Ontario residents stay healthy.
“Our government is taking steps to ensure Ontarians of all ages have the tools they need to be prepared and keep themselves and their loved ones safe and healthy,” said Jones.
Starting this fall, families with infants and high-risk children up to 24 months old will now have access to the new RSV immunization, Beyfortus®, through the publicly funded RSV prevention program, said the Ontario news release.
Pregnant women will also have the option to receive a single dose of Abrysvo®, an RSV vaccine that can provide protection for their infant from birth to six months of age. More details on the expanded RSV program, including where families will be able to access vaccines will be provided in the coming weeks, said the health ministry.
Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, endorsed the RSV program as a simple way to protect vulnerable people.
“To be ready for this year's respiratory illness season, we all need to take simple and effective steps to protect the most vulnerable people in our communities and our health care system,” said Moore.
“RSV is a highly contagious virus that causes infections of the respiratory tract, especially in the very young and older members of our communities. By expanding the RSV prevention program to include all infants born in 2024 and high-risk children up to 24 months old through the 2024/25 RSV season, we can better protect them from the virus and prevent severe outcomes.”
It was last fall that the Sudbury health unit launched a respiratory illness dashboard online to help residents to allow residents to have a better sense of the level of community health and the threat provided by respiratory illnesses in the Sudbury and Manitoulin districts.