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BC’s top doctor expects COVID-19 vaccine rollout to begin in January

By Hannah Scott, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Published 4:50 PST, Thu December 3, 2020

COVID-19 vaccines are expected to be rolled out in BC in early January, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said today.

“As vaccines become available, they will become our first step to protect people who are most at risk from severe illness and from death,” she said.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, both of which are awaiting final approval for use in Canada, are likely to be “the only ones” available in the first quarter of next year. There will be about six million doses coming to Canada in the early months of 2021. At least two other products are currently submitting data to Canadian regulatory agencies: AstraZeneca and Janssen.

“Those ones, we hope, will be ready and available in the province sometime in the second quarter of 2021,” said Henry.

By April, she expects increased numbers of all vaccines to be available, with many vaccinations anticipated through the summer and into the fall. By the end of 2021, Henry says anyone who wants the COVID-19 vaccine in Canada should be able to get it.

A further update on BC’s COVID-19 vaccine strategy will be available next week, said Henry. 

The province also revealed new case statistics Thursday. Hospitalizations have decreased by 12 since yesterday’s number and now total 325, with 80 of those people in critical care. But active cases continue to rise and have now exceeded 9,000, with 9,103 reported today. There were also 694 new cases across BC, including four that are epidemiologically linked, bringing BC’s cumulative total to 35,422.

Of the new cases, 114 are in the Vancouver Coastal Health region (including Richmond), 465 in the Fraser Health region, 10 in the Island Health region, 82 in the Interior Health region and 23 in the Northern Health region.

Since yesterday, 12 more people have died from COVID-19, bringing that total to 481. There are 10,849 people being monitored by public health, an increase of nearly 650 from yesterday’s total. Henry also announced three new healthcare outbreaks, with BC’s total now at 64 outbreaks in the healthcare sector—56 in longterm care or assisted living facilities and eight in acute care facilities, affecting 958 residents and 559 staff members.

For a list of community exposure events, click here.

For the latest medical updates, including case counts, prevention, risks and testing, visit: http://www.bccdc.ca/ or follow @CDCofBC on Twitter.

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