Ontario to expand RSV vaccine availability for seniors 75 and older this fall

Published by: The Globe and Mail
Published on: August 27, 2025
By Kelly Grant

Beginning this fall, all Ontarians 75 and older will be eligible for a free shot that protects against respiratory syncytial virus.

Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones is scheduled to announce the expansion of public coverage for RSV vaccines on Wednesday, according to a Ministry of Health release that The Globe and Mail obtained in advance.

Until now, the Ontario government only paid for the RSV vaccine for seniors who were 60 and older and considered high risk, such as transplant recipients, dialysis patients and nursing home residents.

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Quebec

Quebec launches annual flu/COVID vaccination campaign

Published October 7, 2024

Published by: Montreal Gazette
Published on: October 7, 2024
By Aaron Derfel

Quebec public health authorities on Monday launched the annual influenza and COVID-19 vaccination campaign, administering the shots first to people in long-term care before making the vaccines available for free to the general population as of Oct. 16.

And for the first time this year, medical staff will be immunizing infants up the age of 18 months against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a seasonal pathogen that often leads to overcrowded pediatric emergency rooms during the winter. Health Canada has approved a monoclonal antibody therapy, Nirsevimab, which is now being injected into premature infants in Quebec before they leave the hospital.

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respiratory syncytial virus

New antibody treatment for RSV in infants highly effective in reducing hospitalisations

Published December 28, 2023

Published by: The Irish Times
Published on: December 28, 2023
By Kevin O’Sullivan

A new antibody treatment could reduce by 80 per cent the numbers of babies and young children admitted to hospital with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a “groundbreaking” study has found.

Published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday, the study involved 8,058 healthy babies aged up to 12 months from the UK, France and Germany, who were approaching their first RSV season. Half were randomly assigned to receive the antibody nirsevimab by injection, while 4,021 babies received standard care.

Of the babies who received the treatment, only 11 (0.3 per cent) were hospitalised, in comparison with the 60 babies (1.5 per cent) who were hospitalised after receiving just the standard care.

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Tag: nirsevimab