Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix announced today that the wait time for second COVID-19 vaccinations is reduced to 28 days.
“Starting this evening, eligible people throughout the province will receive a notice that they can now book their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine when at least 28 days have passed,” said Henry.
Henry mentioned that this is to help combat the rise in active cases in the province, and adds that if you don’t live in an area that has a high case count, you can wait the normal six to eight weeks to receive your second dose to get a stronger resistance to the virus.
“Right now we need to balance the risk of the epidemiology that we are seeing, and the need to get people as highly protected as possible, knowing that we have a lot of transmission from the highly transmissible strains here in the province.”
She adds that this means about 170,000 people will now be eligible for a second jab and that it may take a few days to get all the invitations out.
Dix said that 82% of people over the age of 12 have received their first COVID-19 vaccine and that 70.3% are now fully vaccinated.
“We are down to 833,298 people who are not yet vaccinated at all in BC. So the progress continues to be significant, and we need to continue to push that,” he added.
Areas in Interior Health have seen active cases rise dramatically over the past few weeks, with health officials reporting over 1,700 active cases today (Monday), whereas Northern Health only has 108.
Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing [email protected].
