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Health Minister Adrian Dix discussed details of the province’s COVID-19 fall booster shot plan.
Screen grab from Province of B.C. YouTube
B.C. reveals fall COVID-19 booster shot plan
By Hannah Scott
Published 2:09 PDT, Fri July 8, 2022
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Despite other provinces making a second COVID-19 vaccine booster dose available to all adults this spring, B.C. is committing to a fall booster program that will see most people aged 12-plus become eligible for a second booster dose, in September.
Currently, specific groups are eligible for a second booster—a fourth dose for many people. This includes anyone aged 70-plus, Indigenous Peoples aged 55-plus, as well as some people deemed clinically extremely vulnerable. But people under age 70 who feel they have special circumstances may be able to get a booster sooner, if they contact the province’s call centre directly.
“People who feel that they have unique circumstances, if they really want to have a spring booster, we will enable that,” said Dr. Penny Ballem, the executive lead of B.C.’s COVID-19 immunization plan.
But with new vaccines coming that are better adapted to the Omicron variant, Ballem said there are some disadvantages to getting a booster dose now. People must wait six months between doses, so those who receive a booster dose now will have to wait six months to receive a fall booster.
Ballem added that the recommendation from the National Advisory Committee for Immunization (NACI) is to wait until the fall, as the respiratory season is the highest-risk time. People aged 12-plus will receive an update through the province’s Get Vaccinated system, recommending that they wait and get a second booster dose in the fall.
Ballem said 64 per cent of those eligible for a second booster have received one. Meanwhile, about 1.3 million eligible people still have not received a first booster dose.
Later this summer, Health Canada will likely approve a two-dose vaccine series for children aged six months to four years old.
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