Update: Pregnancy Now Considered Highest-Risk Health Condition; Now Eligible for Vaccination

Advisory Alert

April 23, 2021

*Cette information est seulement disponible en anglais.

To: Healthcare Partners

FOR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION

Update to highest-risk health conditions: Pregnancy

The purpose of this Advisory Alert is to share that pregnancy is now considered a highest-risk health condition under Phase 2 of the provincial COVID-19 vaccination plan. Individuals who are pregnant are now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

Please be advised that individuals who are pregnant are not exempt from the 112-day second dose interval. This is in accordance with the health conditions as described in the provincial plan.

We ask for your continued assistance in contacting eligible patients who have highest-risk health conditions, now including pregnant patients, and provide them with booking instructions. We also ask that you provide information to these patients to help support their decision-making.

Highest-risk health conditions

As a reminder, highest-risk health conditions include:

• Pregnancy
• Organ transplant recipients
• Hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients,
• People with neurologic diseases in which respiratory function may be compromised (e.g. motor neuron disease, myasthenia gravis, multiple sclerosis),
• Hematologic malignancy diagnosed <1
• Kidney disease with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) under 30

Up to one primary essential caregiver for those in the highest-risk health conditions group and for certain individuals in the high-risk health conditions group may also be eligible. An essential caregiver is someone providing direct, frequent and sustained in person personal care and/or assistance with activities of daily living to the individual.

Share booking and clinic details with your patients

Once the individuals have been identified, we ask that you share booking details with them.

Booking Instructions

Provide your patients with the following booking information:

• Call 674.2299 (toll-free: 1.800.708.2505) OR 1.844.782.2273 to book an appointment.
• Individuals who are pregnant will not require a code at time of booking. Pregnant individuals should consult with their treating health care provider, or with a health care provider familiar with their pregnancy prior to immunization.

Please note that booking is open for those with both highest– and high-risk health conditions. Those with at-risk health conditions are yet not yet eligible to book their COVID-19 vaccine.

Resources for patient education

To help patients make informed decisions about the COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy or while breastfeeding, please review the information in the Ministry’s Vaccination in Pregnancy & Breastfeeding Decision-Making Support Tool.

Sincerely,

Original Signed By

Dr. Penny Sutcliffe
Medical Officer of Health and Chief Executive Officer

NOTE: All Advisory Alerts are found on our website.

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For reference, please see the following list of high-risk and at-risk health conditions. Individuals in the at-risk group are not yet eligible for vaccination.

High-risk health conditions

• Obesity (BMI over 40)
• Other treatments causing immunosuppression (for example, chemotherapy, immunity-weakening medications)
• Intellectual or developmental disabilities (for example, Down Syndrome)

At-risk health conditions

• Immune deficiencies and autoimmune disorders
• Stroke and cerebrovascular disease
• Dementia
• Diabetes
• Liver disease
• All other cancers
• Respiratory diseases
• Spleen problems
• Heart disease
• Hypertension with end organ damage
• Diagnosed mental disorder
• Substance use disorders
• Sickle cell disease
• Thalassemia
• Immunocompromising health conditions
• Other disabilities requiring direct support care in the community

This item was last modified on April 23, 2021