As Western University imposes a booster mandate for all incoming staff and students 鈥 an effort, it says, is to lessen the risk of COVID-19 transmission on campus this fall -- not all infectious disease experts are on the same page about the benefits of such mandates.
Dr. Martha Fulford, an infectious disease expert with McMaster University, says she sees the overall medical value of vaccines but doesn鈥檛 agree that booster shots should be mandated for public health.
Instead, she told CTV National News, booster shots should be considered at the individual level.
鈥淚t has become clear that COVID vaccines are not stopping onward transmission,鈥 she said, referring to the spread of variants such as Omicron and sub-variants.
When it comes to determining the need for booster shots, it would be easy for each person to have an individual risk assessment with their family physician, Fulford said. 鈥淏ut we鈥檙e not going to see a public health benefit in terms of a decrease in onward transmission,鈥 she said.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e going to mandate something, regardless of whether you agree with that person鈥檚 individual decision, there has to be a very compelling public health or medical rational for that. It鈥檚 just not there anymore for the COVID vaccines and certainly not for boosters.鈥
While the benefit of booster shots might be more apparent for an older, immuno-compromised individual, she said, the benefits of another vaccine for a younger person, particularly if that person already has two doses or has actually recovered from COVID, is much less clear.
Karina Top, an associate professor of pediatrics and community health and epidemiology at Dalhousie University, says she supports mandate efforts, believing booster shots could maximize protection for incoming students.
鈥淭he boosters are effective at preventing severe COVID,鈥 said Top, whose research focuses on vaccine safety. She maintains that COVID vaccines currently available are 鈥渆ffective against those severe outcomes in people who aren鈥檛 [protected] against Omicron.鈥
What the vaccines are not as good at doing, she said, is preventing infection or mild illnesses from COVID omicron variants.
鈥淲hat we know is that combined exposure to both the vaccine and COVID-19 seems to offer somewhat better protection against severe COVID and broader protection against variants than just getting infected with COVID alone,鈥 she said.
When it comes to the protectiveness of booster shots, Top pointed out that, a couple of months after the booster, 鈥減rotection against those mild illness does decrease, but effectiveness against severe disease is sustained over several months at least.鈥
Top said she strongly recommends students returning to school get a third vaccine shot if they have not already, and to consider getting a booster when it becomes available later in fall.
Florentine Strzelczyk, Western鈥檚 provost and vice-president, wrote in an email to CTVNews.ca that their decision to impose a booster mandate for incoming students this year was 鈥渋nformed by consultation with our medical experts and the Western community, and mirrors several of North America鈥檚 largest universities, including Brown, Columbia, Harvard, and Yale per CDC recommendations.鈥
Strzelczyk added: 鈥淲e know our approach won鈥檛 make everyone happy, but we鈥檝e also heard from many people, including students, that they鈥檙e pleased to see us use all the tools available to us to help keep them safe and to have a consistent in-person experience this year.鈥
