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Over 500,000 booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in British Columbia.
Last week, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization announced that it strongly recommends that booster shots are administered six-to-eight months after the last dose, which Dr. Bonnie Henry said is already aligned with the province's vaccination program.
Back in October, the booster program was launched in BC, which was designed to reach the entire adult population of 18+ over the next six to eight months.
The initial rollout of the program was to ensure that those who were most vulnerable in breakthrough infections, similar to the first vaccination campaign, were to receive their booster doses first.
That means those who may experience severe infections, run the risk of being hospitalized or live in long-term care have been a part of this new rollout.
Those who have received a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as part of their primary series, which included people who were clinically immunosuppressed, will now also be able to receive an additional booster six months after their third dose.
“As we know from our program the vast majority of people, particularly under the age of 70, received their second dose in June, July and early August,” Henry explained.
“That is why our booster program has been specifically ramping up because we know that people will become due for this booster dose after six months and that starts for the most part in January, February and into March.”
Now that immunization amongst the highest priority group is wrapping up, the next age group, 65 and over, will be receiving their invitations to receive their third dose as of early next week.
As of today, over 90% of people over aged 70 have been invited to receive their booster, and over 80% have already booked to receive the third jab.
For those in the age category of 12-17, booster shots have not yet been recommended by the province but data is being monitored closely.
“We will also continue to watch the data on younger people, the 12–17 age group, and determine whether a booster dose is needed in that age group as well," added Henry.
When asked if the province will be planning to make booster shots part of a planned six month schedule, Henry responded with “We don’t yet know.”
It was also announced this afternoon that there are now five confirmed cases of Omnicron in the province, as an additional four were discovered over the weekend.
Of those five confirmed cases with the new variant of concern, three of those individuals were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and two were unvaccinated.
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