On Friday, BC health officials recommended that people 12 years of age or older receive a fall boost for COVID-19 in the fall.
This comes when BC is seeing an increase in the Omicron BA.5 variant, the acting provincial health officer, Dr. Martin Lavoie, said on Friday.
Details are still being released, but officials say everyone 65 and older will receive an invitation first and then all 12 to 64 in an age-based release.
Residents 11 years of age or younger cannot receive any booster vaccine.
Lavoie urges anyone over the age of 70 to be eligible for the second booster dose to receive the injection soon. They would have received an invitation to do so.
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Dr. Penny Ballem, executive head of BC’s immunization deployment, said Friday that they expect a vaccine for children six months to five years old to be approved by the end of July, and then those vaccination appointments will be incorporated. to the other childhood immunization. clinics.
Read more: Are fourth doses of COVID-19 needed in the midst of the spread of Omicron? Experts intervene
The advantage of receiving the vaccine this fall is that the new Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are expected to be more tailored to combat Omicron variants, he said.
For those who have had their third injection, Ballem said the risk will be higher in the fall when COVID-19 circulates with other respiratory diseases.
“Autumn is the best time to take your next chance.”
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However, Ballem said people who feel they need their second booster can now contact health authorities and will receive their vaccine.
1:43 COVID-19’s new Omicron subvariant is expected to become dominant in BC soon. COVID-19’s new Omicron subvariant is expected to become dominant in BC soon
The National Immunization Advisory Committee (NACI) has already recommended booster vaccines this fall.
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While 2.8 million British Colombians have received a third dose of the vaccine, Health Minister Adrian Dix said earlier this week that an additional 1.3 million people are eligible for their third dose right now. in the province and have not yet received it.
In June, federal health officials urged Canadians to receive booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine before the possible resurgence of the virus in the fall.
On June 30, Canada’s director of health, Dr. Theresa Tam, said the case count was stable or declining in most parts of the country. However, Omicron’s highly transmissible BA.5 subvariant is now driving another wave of infections.
This is the seventh wave of COVID since the start of the pandemic and the third driven by Omicron, Canadian health officials said.
Read more: COVID-19 cases in British Columbia hospitals increase nearly 100, admissions increase during second week
2:28 NACI publishes new COVID-19 reinforcement guidelines NACI publishes new COVID-19 reinforcement guidelines – June 30
In BC more than 225,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine will expire by the end of July.
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Another 430,000 doses of Pfizer’s Comirnaty will expire before November 30, and about 40,000 of its pediatric vaccine doses will expire before September 30.
Read more: BC in the middle of the third wave of Omicron with the peak coming in August, according to the expert
BC is in the middle of a third wave of Omicron, which is expected to rise rapidly in the coming weeks, a COVID-19 modeling expert said last week.
Dr. Sarah Otto, an evolutionary biologist and professor at the University of British Columbia, told the Evolution Conference in Ohio last week that the BA.5 variant is once again circulating in more communities and predicts that the third wave it will reach its maximum point. sometime next month.
-With archives of the Canadian press
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