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B.C. extends vaccine card program through June 30

By Hannah Scott, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Published 4:31 PST, Tue January 25, 2022

The BC Vaccine Card program, initially slated to end Jan. 31, has been extended through June 30.

However, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said today that there is a possibility the program will end before that date, with re-evaluation happening on a regular basis.

“We still see that in people who are fully vaccinated, that mitigates that risk of both getting infected yourself and passing it on to others. It’s one tool that allows us to err on the side of having people in watching the hockey game or in restaurants. It doesn’t eliminate the risk but it absolutely has been mitigating the risk,” said Henry.

Henry said she does not anticipate a third dose will be required as part of the BC Vaccine Card program.

Additionally, youth sport tournaments can resume as of Feb. 1. Adult sport tournaments remain prohibited at this time.

Health officials also reported 1,446 new cases of COVID-19 today. Since the pandemic began, B.C. has recorded 314,522 cases.

In a news release, the province noted that the numbers of total and new cases are provisional due to a delayed data refresh and will be verified once confirmed.

Of the new cases, 309 are in the Vancouver Coastal Health region (including Richmond), 508 in the Fraser Health region, 163 in the Island Health region, 319 in the Interior Health region, 147 in the Northern Health region and no new cases of people who reside outside of Canada.

There are 32,468 active cases of COVID-19 in B.C. and 985 COVID-positive individuals are in hospital, 144 of whom are in intensive care. 

To date, 10,506,471 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Pfizer Pediatric COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C.; 4,167,276 of those are second doses and 1,912,122 are third doses. 

This means that 92.9 per cent of adults, 92.6 per cent of people aged 12 and older and 89.6 per cent of people aged five and older have received their first dose of a vaccine. In addition, 90.4 per cent of adults, 89.9 per cent of those aged 12 and older and 83.6 per cent of those aged five and older have received two doses; 44.2 per cent of adults and 41.3 per cent of those aged 12-plus have received three doses.

Sadly, there was one new virus-related death reported today, bringing that total to 2,554. The person lived in the Fraser Health region.

Health authorities reported one health-care facility outbreak over. Active outbreaks continue at 52 long-term care facilities, one assisted or independent living facility and 10 acute care facilities.

From Jan. 17 to 23, people not fully vaccinated accounted for 28.5 per cent of cases.
From Jan. 10 to 23, they accounted for 29.6 per cent of hospitalizations.

Past week cases (Jan. 17 to 23)—Total 13,537

• Not vaccinated: 3,083 (22.8 per cent)

• Partially vaccinated: 774 (5.7 per cent)

• Fully vaccinated: 9,680 (71.5 per cent)

Past two weeks cases hospitalized (Jan. 10 to 23)—Total 1,118

• Not vaccinated: 279 (25.0 per cent)

• Partially vaccinated: 51 (4.6 per cent)

• Fully vaccinated: 788 (70.4 per cent)

Past week, cases per 100,000 population after adjusting for age (Jan. 17 to 23)

• Not vaccinated: 396.9

• Partially vaccinated: 200.0

• Fully vaccinated: 236.1

Past two weeks, cases hospitalized per 100,000 population after adjusting for age (Jan. 10 to 23)

• Not vaccinated: 71.0

• Partially vaccinated: 40.9

• Fully vaccinated: 16.9

For the latest medical updates, including case counts, prevention, risks and to find a testing centre near you: http://www.bccdc.ca/ or follow @CDCofBC on Twitter.

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