Alberta expands eligibility for third COVID-19 vaccine dose

The Alberta government is once again expanding eligibility for getting a third COVID vaccine dose.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced on Wednesday that starting next week, third doses will be made available to Albertans 70 and older, as well as Metis, Inuit and First Nations who are 18 or older and received their second dose at least six months prior.

WATCH: Premier Jason Kenney, Health Minister Jason Copping and Dr. Deena Hinshaw provide an update on COVID-19 in Alberta.

“And so you may ask, why are we making this more generally available to the First Nations, Indigenous communities at 18 and above?” Kenney asked.

“Well, the data sadly shows that Indigenous people have suffered significantly worse outcomes for COVID-19 than the general Alberta population and this is a reflection of that higher level of risk,” he explained. “We want to provide that protection to anybody who might have an elevated risk level.”

Kenney says the province will also be offering third dose appointments to health care workers who are providing direct patient care who also received their second dose less than eight weeks after their first dose.

“The data shows that the closer the interval, the perhaps a little less durable the protection of those vaccines,” Kenney said.

On top of these expanded requirements, the government says anyone who received two shots of either AstraZeneca or Janssen/Johnson and Johnson, will also be eligible to receive a third shot.

“Now, we’re offering booster doses to these Albertans because the emerging data suggests that protection from viral vector vaccines decreases more quickly than mRNA vaccines,” said Health Minister Jason Copping.