Ontario’s chief medical officer is expected to announce on Wednesday a plan to expand eligibility for 4th shots of COVID-19 vaccine.

Dr. Kieran Moore’s 11am news conference follows calls from various stakeholders to allow everyone 18 and over to get a 2nd booster, or 4th shot, amid a 7th wave of COVID infections driven by the BA 5 Omicron subvariant.

Among those individuals is Ottawa based family physician Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth.

She told guest host Jane Brown on Zoomer Radio’s Fight Back with Libby Znaimer, we have a right as citizens of Canada under the constitution to have the option to protect ourselves with a 4th dose.

“And in answer to everybody’s question, should we not just wait for a new vaccine in the fall?” Kaplan-Myrth explained, “We don’t know when that vaccine will be available. Maybe it’ll be available sometime in October, 9 times out of 10, you’re going to have to hunt for it, you’re going to have to fight for it.”

Listen to the full conversation with Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth and Epidemiologist Dr. Tim Sly by clicking here.

Until now, the 4th dose has been offered in Ontario to those 60 and over, as well as people who are immunocompromised and indigenous individuals.

Dr. Moore is also expected to give an update Wednesday on the future of the province’s free rapid antigen test program that is set to expire at the end of the month.