Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine

Protect yourself and get vaccinated

Vaccines are safe and effective and help to protect you and those around you from serious illness. You can also protect yourself against respiratory illnesses including COVID-19 by staying home when ill, washing your hands often, and covering your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze. Individuals at higher risk of severe infection should also consider wearing a mask. Learn what to do if you have symptoms of COVID-19 (Ontario Ministry of Health).

Staying up-to-date

It is important that you receive all recommended COVID-19 vaccine doses, as this will help you build long-term protection against COVID-19, decrease the risk of developing post COVID-19 conditions (commonly known as long COVID), and will provide protection against severe illness, including hospitalization and death.

In Ontario, individuals 6 months and older are considered up-to-date with their COVID-19 vaccines if they have received a fall 2023 COVID-19 dose.

Visit our COVID-19 vaccination recommendations and eligibility page for more information on current recommendations.

Vaccination clinics for COVID-19

Public Health Sudbury & Districts (Public Health) continues to offer clinic opportunities over the upcoming months (see details). Eligible individuals seeking a COVID-19 vaccine can book an appointment at a Public Health clinic or they can contact their health care provider, a participating pharmacy (Government of Ontario), or health centre.

Doses administered

Public Health Sudbury & Districts reports COVID-19 vaccination data Wednesdays at 4 p.m.

COVID-19 vaccines

mRNA COVID-19 vaccine

All Public Health clinics offer mRNA vaccine brands. These vaccines teach your cells how to make a protein that will trigger an immune response. Once triggered, your body makes antibodies which help you fight the infection if the real virus does enter your body in the future.

Examples of mRNA vaccines include:

mRNA vaccines remain the recommended vaccine type for COVID-19 and can be used for individuals who have not been previously vaccinated as well as for those who received a COVID-19 vaccine previously.

Consistent with the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), the Ontario Ministry of Health recommends a dose of the XBB.1.5-containing COVID-19 mRNA vaccine for individuals in the authorized age group. This formulation targets the COVID-19 subvariant circulating now and is expected to be circulating through the upcoming fall and winter months.

The bivalent mRNA vaccines include two strains of the COVID-19 virus: the original COVID-19 strain and the Omicron variant strain. Individuals who choose to receive a dose of this vaccine formulation should speak with a health care provider. Although data from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech has shown that the BA.4/5 bivalent vaccines do generate immune responses against the XBB.1.5 variant and variants that are descendants of XBB; the new XBB.1.5 vaccine formulation generates a stronger and more robust immune response to these more recent variants.

Non-mRNA COVID-19 vaccines

Novavax Nuvaxovid is a non-mRNA protein subunit vaccine. Being vaccinated with a COVID-19 protein subunit vaccine will make your immune system recognize that the proteins do not  belong in your body, and it will begin to make T-lymphocytes (this helps your immune system fight germs) and antibodies. In the event of a re-infection, memory cells will recognize and fight the virus.

Public Health will order a limited supply of the Novavax Nuvaxovid vaccine as needed for offering in the fall of 2023. Novavax Nuvaxovid may be offered to individuals who are 12 years old without contraindications to the vaccine who are not able or willing to receive an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.

Eligible individuals may request to be added to a waiting list to receive a non-mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. Public Health will contact eligible individuals in the fall to book an appointment. Please note that there are limited vaccination opportunities for non-mRNA vaccines. and they are not readily available through other clinic settings.

Learn more about the Health Canada approved COVID-19 vaccines.

Report your COVID-19 vaccination(s) in the provincial database (COVaxON)

If your COVID-19 vaccination records are not in the provincial online database or if you have received a COVID-19 vaccination outside of Ontario or Canada, we encourage you to submit your proof of vaccinations to help public health agencies monitor vaccine coverage and to have your COVID-19 immunization record documented in the provincial system (COVaxON).

COVID-19 vaccine resources

Public Health Sudbury & Districts has several free downloadable resources. Visit our COVID-19 vaccine resource page and our child and youth vaccine toolkit.

To learn more

Visit the Ontario Ministry of Health website, or contact Public Health by calling 705.522.9200 (toll-free: 1.866.522.9200).

If you are a health care provider please read our Advisory Alerts for more information.


This item was last modified on March 12, 2024