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       Barbara Violo, pharmacist and owner of The Junction Chemist Pharmacy, draws up a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, in Toronto on June 18.

       Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press

       A national advisory panel recommends people who are immunocompromised receive a third vaccine dose against COVID-19.

       The National Advisory Committee on Immunization released the advice today saying people who are moderately to severely immunocompromised are shown to have a weaker response to vaccinations.

       It recommends those who are not yet vaccinated to receive three doses of an mRNA vaccine.

       It says an additional dose of an mRNA vaccine should be provided to those who are fully vaccinated, including those who received mixed doses.

       “This is not unusual for immunocompromised groups, where we often recommend different vaccine schedules to help them achieve better protection,” Dr. Shelley Deeks, committee chair, said in a statement.

       “This is different from a booster dose, which would be used to boost an immune response that has waned over time.”

       Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says the advice applies to people 12 and older whose immune systems are compromised for a variety of reasons like being treated for a tumour or having an untreated HIV infection that has advanced.

       The advisory body says giving those who are immunocompromised a third dose is different than offering a booster shot to the general population because for most two doses of vaccine protects against COVID-19.

       The panel says it continues to study the need for booster shots for specific groups, like those in long-term care.

       Ontario has administered thousands of third doses of COVID-19 vaccine to some of the province’s most vulnerable residents and will continue to do so despite the World Health Organization calling for a moratorium on the practice.

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       A spokeswoman for Health Minister Christine Elliott says the province had administered more than 14,500 third doses as of Tuesday night – a number it plans to start reporting publicly.

       Ontario’s COVID-19 case numbers Ontario is reporting 848 new cases of COVID-19 today and five deaths linked to the virus.

       Health Minister Christine Elliott says that 659 of those infections are in people who are not fully vaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown.

       Elliott says 361 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, with 331 of them not fully vaccinated.

       She says that 177 people are in intensive care because of the virus, with only 14 of those cases happening in fully vaccinated individuals.

       The Ministry of Health says that 84.1 per cent of Ontarians over the age of 12 have had at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 77.7 per cent have two doses.

       A total of 21,098,125 vaccine doses have been administered in Ontario.

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