HOW LATE IS TOO LATE?

Delayed vaccine series is one of the many negative consequences of the recent pandemic. But how long can we delay?

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1. Counselling Conundrum: a real question from a patient

2. Concise Conclusion: a straight-forward patient-friendly answer

3. Quick Wrap-up

Clearly, there are nuances that may not be captured in this format. The goal here is to provide you with helpful counselling tips which often draw from multiple sources or those which are not commonly accessed by busy healthcare providers serving the community.

1. Counselling Conundrum: a real question from a patient

Counselling Conundrum: "I got my first of two shingles shots two years ago. Do I need to restart?

Concise Conclusion: No, you don't need to restart. Get your second shot as soon as you can.

Quick Wrap-up: This is one that seems unanswerable. Fortunately, here is the answer: there are only two vaccine types that are known to require restarting the full series in Canada; Cholera/Traveler's Diarrhea (i.e. Dukoral), and Rabies (in the case of PEP). Feel confident recommending that patients finish their series as soon as they can, and that the main downside to waiting is delayed protection (rather than reduced protection once the series is completed).

Dive Deeper

1) Timing of vaccine administration: Canadian Immunization Guide - Canada.ca

We hope you have found this useful. Would appreciate your reply to this email with any feedback or topic suggestions you can; it will be the key to making this newsletter the best it can be.