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British Columbians will now be eligible for their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine just 28 days after their first shot, in a move that public health officials hope will speed up a stalling vaccination effort.
The rapid and sustained spread of the Delta variant among unvaccinated people and those with a single dose makes getting second shots into arms more important than ever, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said today.
“We are reducing that interval… to help protect those people particularly living in regions with outbreaks,” said Henry. “Getting fully vaccinated as quickly as possible helps up that community protection.”
The change decreases the current 49-day interval by three weeks and will lead to an additional 170,000 people receiving invitations to book vaccines in the next couple of days.
Currently, 82.9 per cent of eligible people 12 and over have received at least one shot, with 72.2 per cent having both doses.
Initially, the province prioritized first doses to spread some measure of immunity to as many people as possible, with an original interval of 16 weeks between doses. Some evidence suggests waiting that long could even lead to a more robust immune response, but Henry noted today: “We don’t yet know what the optimal interval is.”
Regardless, an increase in vaccine supply and the fast-moving Delta variant have changed that equation, Henry said.
On Monday, the province reported 1,079 new cases of COVID-19 from the last three days, half of which were in the Interior Health region where a 1,200-case outbreak in the Central Okanagan has resulted in renewed public health restrictions.
“We know that there’s a balancing to be done between virus transmission rates and waiting to get a second dose,” said Henry. “There is probably an advantage to waiting… but we have to balance that with the risk of you getting COVID in the meantime.”
The reduced interval will likely help speed up vaccinations among the 10.7 per cent of eligible people over 12 who have received a single dose.
But the 18 per cent of eligible British Columbians who are unvaccinated — most of whom are under 50 — remain a stubborn challenge for a province that needs to reach upwards of 90 per cent vaccinated to beat the Delta variant and future strains to come.
Since announcing its Vax for BC campaign two weeks ago, the province says the number of unvaccinated but eligible people has dropped from more than 900,000 to around 833,000.
During the height of the province’s vaccination effort in May and June, as many as 70,000 people were getting their first doses each day. In the last week, a daily average of just 5,000 people have gotten their first shots.
In addition to pop-up clinics around the province, British Columbians can get their first doses without an appointment at any vaccination clinic simply by walking in. ![[Tyee]](/design-article.thetyee.ca/ui/img/yellowblob.png){kind=small}
Read more: Coronavirus
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