Everyone in B.C. will have access to a COVID-19 booster dose in the coming months, the provincial government announced Tuesday.
Between now and the end of the year, the immunization booster program will continue to focus on people who are immunocompromised, residents in long-term care and those in assisted living and rural and remote Indigenous communities.
Seniors aged 70 and over, and all Indigenous people over the age of 12, long-term home support clients and seniors in independent living and health-care workers who had a short interval between their first and second doses will also have the opportunity to receive a booster by the end of the year.
Starting in January, booster dose availability will expand to clinically vulnerable individuals and health-care workers. From there, the rest of the remaining population will become eligible for a third dose.
A plan to start vaccinating children between five and 11 is also expected to begin pending Health Canada approval, though parents can already register their kids to get immunized.
As of Tuesday, nearly 90 per cent of eligible people over the age of 12 in B.C., have received a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and more than 84 per cent have received a second dose.
The provincial health officer says she's optimistic that a third dose may provide years of protection against the virus based on the long intervals between shots to optimize the benefits of vaccination.
The province says 77 per cent of hospitalizations due to COVID-19 from Oct. 7 to 20 were in people who were not fully vaccinated.
The province announced Monday it had confirmed 1,618 new cases of COVID-19 and 20 more deaths over the weekend. Fraser Health had more than double the number of new cases compared to any other health authority, with nearly 700 new diagnoses.
Health officials provide update on vaccination program for British Columbians - CBC.ca
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