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‘Just hold tight,’ COVID-19 second vaccine doses coming sooner

B.C. sees 250 new cases Wednesday, lowest since October
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Fraser Health registered nurse Kai Kayibadi draws a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine into a syringe at a walk-up vaccination clinic at Bear Creek Park, in Surrey, B.C., on Monday, May 17, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

B.C.’s provincial health officer is preparing an update on B.C.’s second-dose COVID-19 vaccine program, as vaccine supplies allow and the health ministry prepares to send out notices to registered recipients.

“Just hold tight,” provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said as the province announced its reopening plan May 25. “We are making sure that second dose invitations for those who received their vaccine first, in particularly March and April… people who are in the clinically extremely vulnerable group, you will start to receive those very soon. I’ll have more details for how that’s all going to work for people on Thursday.”

B.C. public health officials extended the maximum time between doses to as much as four months as they worked to slow down the worst spike in infections in March, and rolled out a province-wide web system for registering and booking vaccinations. That is now at full operation and B.C. residents age 12 and up are able to register.

For people who received a first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine, Henry said she expects to know next week what advice to give on second doses of Pfizer or Moderna, which has shown promise for immunity in an early study. The province has reserved remaining supplies of AstraZeneca for use as second doses as necessary.

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B.C. reported 250 new cases Wednesday, the lowest daily total since October, continuing steady decline as more people are vaccinated. Hospitalization rose from 292 to 296 in the past 24 hours, with 97 people in intensive care and three additional deaths, for a total of 1,683 since the pandemic began.

“Since we last reported, we have had 84 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 109 new cases in the Fraser Health region, nine in the Island Health region, 40 in the Interior Health region, eight in the Northern Health region and no new cases of people who reside outside of Canada,” Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said in a statement May 26.


@tomfletcherbc
tfletcher@blackpress.ca

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