Health Canada has approved and updated moderna covid-19 vaccine to Target an Omicron sub-variant it's authorized for use in people aged six months or older and today Chief Public Health officer Teresa Tam stressed the importance of vaccination heading into the fall and winter we are absolutely encouraging people to get protected both with covid-19 vaccine and the flu shot prior to the period ahead Tam went on to say that in the last few weeks there has been an increase in covid-19 indicators deputy chief Public Health officer Dr Howard new joins me now Dr new good to talk to you again hello there so this vaccine is approved for people over six months but who should be lining up to get this vaccine well the thing is as you said it's approved for anyone over six months of age so I think you know in in principle everyone who's eligible should probably uh take advantage of it but I would say that especially for the young children I think parents should have a good discussion with their pediatrician obviously to look at the risk and benefits and make an informed choice for the others I think especially if you're in an at-risk group for more severe consequences I think as they say it's probably a no-brainer we we said for the last three years you know for the vaccines that you know those over at the age of 65 if you are living in sort of a you know a collective living Arrangement if you're let's say immunocompromise of underlying medical conditions uh you know if you're a part of a let's say an indigenous population be it First Nations uh you know Inuit from A.T it goes on and on those individuals obviously I think are at higher risk of consequences and certainly should take advantage of the new vaccine that's available in the past when we saw these new vaccine approvals to deal with new variants or just get to the booster shots there was an urgency in the population that's that's it's not quite there right now with the way covid is playing out so how do you get the message out to people that that they might need it when there's kind of a fatigue that that's setting in perhaps yeah I can appreciate that when you say there's a fatigue set again but I what I would say is that all of us recognize that every year we've got you know respiratory viruses especially with the winter season coming up you know with the flu and RSV now and so on and so forth so I would say that uh you know it's in everyone's best interest to be as prepared as possible in terms of what prevention now they can take and so therefore I would certainly uh recommend that when you go out there it's not just because of covid-19 that you should get the updated vaccine but as well at the same time get your flu shot you know when that's available as well and then of course all of the good public health and you know I would say personal protective measures that's uh that everyone's well-versed and I think that will serve us all in good stead because uh we saw last year there was a obviously a lot of pressure even though you know the past three years in our health care System the more that each of us can do in terms of our personal behaviors the choices we make for example I said you know even mask wearing I think is coming back in Vogue people get it you know it's a it's a way to protect yourself but also maybe your loved ones and others are more vulnerable in our in our community that might be a good idea as we get more you know indoors you know as the winter season approaches that all these things put together were hopefully a lessen the need for people that have to end up seeing you know a physician or going to the emergency room but you know it's interesting watching your press conference today SIU Dr Tam Dr Sharma who we used to see practically every day not that long ago you were distance at the press conferences you were wearing masks when I'm out and about here in Ottawa I did some air travel recently you don't see the masks you don't see the distances the distancing so how do you encourage people to get back to that point given just where things are right now well I think you know what we've been harping on for the past three years is you know in English we call about the three C's right you know if you look at the environments where there's you know it's crowded places uh with close contact and especially closed spaces especially you know as we head to the winter season it's a good uh idea to think about though what you can do to not just protect yourself but others and certainly if you're a maybe at risk for more severe consequences maybe it's a it's a a more of a let's say an easier choice to make and maybe compared to others but uh I would say that you know any one measure in and of itself you know it won't be the the perfect solution but if you combine that with you know good hand washing as sort of irregularly as well as a maybe an indoors looking at your ventilation system see what you can do to improve that obviously you know I think a good practice we've all picked up is that hey if you're sick uh stay at home I don't don't put others at risk by going out you know to that party or that social event or going to work so all of the all of those things put together I think is really what's going to I think a hell us all each and every one of us as well as the Healthcare System but you know what advice do you have to people who maybe no longer consider kova to be a serious issue that has become more of an inconvenience if you get it people have had bouts of it and you know they were just had a mild flu for a couple of days it's not the the health catastrophe it was in say 2020 and 2021 what advice do you have for them to get back into that mindset well the thing is unfortunately the virus is still here you know it's still circulating worldwide in this we know the variants uh keep coming up you know the virus is smart it keeps uh you know as they say evolving and uh looking for what they call it admit you know a transmission advantage or you know maybe you're looking into evade our immunity either by you know the vaccines or even at what we call a from a previous infection and so uh uh what we're seeing now is that uh for the moment you know things are fairly stable across the country but you can see that the hospitalizations have continued and they're starting to creep up into certain jurisdictions and if you look at what's happening around the world I I think uh we all recognize that you know covet is going to circulate for quite some time and then of course with all the other respiratory viruses put that all together if we don't sort of you know take uh the right measures you know both individually and collectively then we might be in for a worse situation so what kind of an uptake are you hoping to see I know we had aggressive vaccine targets when we were pushing for kind of a herd immunity thing to deal with the the real acute phase of the disease what are you hoping to see with this uh specific moderna vaccine for example as it deals with Omicron and that variant what kind of a vaccination rate would you like to see in Canada this fall what's difficult to say because obviously I think you know in terms of any Target you know you set yourself up for for maybe you know you know sort of managing expectations what I would say is that certainly for a certain at-risk populations those in congregate living centers uh you know seniors and so on I think you know we're as high as possible in terms of vaccine coverage rate and certainly when I've been out in the neighborhood I've noticed you know the seniors uh uh for the most part they're the ones who are really continuing to practice all those good personal protective measures you know wearing the mask Etc when they're in the grocery store and so on so I fully expect them to to be a sort of onboard in terms of being up to date with the latest vaccines I think for the younger folks and so on it might be as you say a harder sell but the one thing I you know and this is something that I don't know no one knows is that uh what about long-term consequence you know people still talk about and are learning about what long covet is you know some individuals are having a you know a fogginess you know some other obviously uh uh problems uh you know many many months after they've had their initial bout of covet so that's something to keep in mind and certainly we've seen from The Limited evidence to date that there is a uh some evidence out there that shows that the having had a covid-19 vaccine can help mitigate against a potential long-term effects