By the end of this weekend, all adults will be eligible to book their COVID-19 vaccination appointment, Health Minister Adrian Dix said on Thursday.
Currently, Northern Health is booking appointments for people aged 30 and up. Starting sometime on Friday, those aged 25 and up will start to receive their notice to book.
Before the end of day on Sunday, health authorities will be booking vaccination appointments for all adults 18 and older, Dix said.
"It's critically important to register. After this weekend, everybody is going to be eligible to register and book," Dix said. "If you are not registered, get registered now."
As of Thursday, 51.5 per cent of British Columbians aged 18 and up have been vaccinated, he said. Roughly 2.8 per cent have received their second shot as well.
As of Thursday, 2.28 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, including 109,953 in the Northern Health region, have been administered in B.C.
For British Columbians 40 years old or older, the vaccination rate increases to 66 per cent, he said. And 81 per cent of people 60 years old and older have been vaccinated.
The news comes on the same day provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced a second case of a blood clot linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine in the province.
The second case was in a man in his 40s from the Fraser Health region, she said. He is in stable condition and is being treated.
"We are following these cases. It is rare, but it is serious," Henry said.
As of Thursday, 270, 939 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine had been administered in the province, including 11,463 in the Northern Health region, according to data released by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.
With the supply of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines available to the province now, Henry said B.C. will be reserving its supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine to provide second doses to people who have already received AstraZeneca.
Blood clots associated with AstraZeneca are even rarer in second doses – close to one in a million – but Henry said she expects those who received the vaccine will have a choice to opt for Pfizer or Moderna for their second dose.
Data collected on the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines shows a significant drop in cases 14 days after receiving a first dose of any of the three vaccines available in B.C., she said.
Of 79,480 cases of COVID-19 diagnosed between Dec. 27 and May 1, only 1,340 (roughly 1.7 per cent) were in people who had a single dose of vaccine, she said. Only 120 cases were reported in people who had two doses.
"The risk decreases dramatically, but it is not zero," Henry said. "(But) we're seeing really strong progress through our immunization campaign."
Communities like Prince Rupert, where vaccines were offered to all adults to stem an outbreak, show the effectiveness of vaccination.
The latest data from the B.C. CDC shows there was only a single new case of COVID-19 in Prince Rupert between May 2 and May 8. In the week of March 7 and March 13, before a concerted vaccination effort in the city had taken full effect, Prince Rupert had 117 cases reported.
To register to get your booking notification, go online to getvaccinated.gov.bc.ca, or phone 1-833-838-2323 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. daily.
CASE NUMBERS DECLINING IN NORTH
Fifteen new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the Northern Health region on Thursday. The number of active cases in the region dropped by three, to 127. The number of people hospitalized with COVID in the north remained steady at 11, with four people in critical care, according to B.C. CDC data.
Throughout the province, 587 new cases were reported on Thursday. The province also saw a drop in active cases, from 5,887 on Wednesday to 5,691 on Thursday.
The number of hospitalizations in B.C. dropped as well, from 423 to 413, with 141 people in critical care.
Five new COVID-related deaths were reported in the province on Thursday, none in the Northern Health region. The province's death toll from the pandemic rose to 1,632, with143 of those deaths being people from the Northern Health region.
"Immunizations are going up, and transmission is going down," Henry said. "We can see a future where we don't have COVID ruling our lives."
