Apologies to anyone who has clicked on this post assuming from the title that it's about darts. It's actually about the rollout of fourth doses of COVID vaccines in Ontario. If it's darts you want, here's a link.
Anyway, a couple of weeks ago the Province of Ontario announced that fourth doses of vaccines would be available to a fairly broad range of individuals, including indigenous peoples, those over the age of sixty and those with pre-existing medical conditions. Take-up of third doses has been a bit patchy -- only about 55% of eligible Ontarians have received that shot, compared to 85 percent who have had two doses. So perhaps it's no surprise to find that the take-up of fourth shots has so far been very slow.
Maybe the conditions for getting that fourth jab have something to do with this. The key requirement is that you have to wait "five months" after your third shot. Since most of those eligible for the fourth dose only started getting their third shots on December 3, this suggests nobody can book a fresh appointment until May 3, so perhaps it's no surprise the phones have not been ringing off the hook.
But wait a second! It turns out the actual wait time after the third shot is 140 days. That's not the same as any five months in the actual calendar, however carefully you select them -- February plus April plus June plus September plus November gives you 148 days. But in any case that would not make a whole lot of difference -- for anyone who got their third shot right on December 3, fourth dose eligibility at the time of writing is still eight days away.
But wait another second! A closer look at the Provincial vaccine portal shows that you can get your fourth shot three months after the third, provided you sign a form for "informed consent", which is a euphemism for "if anything goes wrong, don't blame us". Not exactly an offer you can't refuse. I believe I'll wait a bit longer for that next shot, especially as there are signs that the latest COVID wave in Ontario may be ebbing.
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