Ten Prince George pharmacies have doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine available for people aged 55 to 65 years old, according to information released by the B.C. Pharmacy Association on Friday.
Doses will be available at Spruceland Save-On Foods, Costco, Superstore, Wal-Mart, Third Avenue Pharmacy and Hart Drug Mart. More locations culd be added this week as vaccine shipments arrive.The vaccine is also available at pharmacies in Quesnel, Terrace and Fort St. John.
The list of pharmacies can be found online at www.bcpharmacy.ca/resource-centre/covid-19/vaccination-locations. Pharmacies with online booking ask that you try to book online, prior to phoning to make an appointment.
Some locations may allow drop-in service. Patients will be required to bring their personal health number.
Residents aged 65 and older can book an appointment to be vaccinated through Northern Health's age-based vaccination campaign, using the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. All Indigenous adults are also eligible, along with those people with a letter saying they are eligible because they are clinically extremely vulnerable.
To register for an appointment, go online to www2.gov.bc.ca/getvaccinated.html or phone 1-833-838-2323.
NORTH SEES 79 NEW CASES
The Northern Health region had 79 new cases of COVID-19 reported on Friday – the fourth-highest single-day total since the start of the pandemic, according to B.C. Centre for Disease Control data.
The number of active cases in the region continue to climb, reaching 333. A total of 34 people were hospitalized in with COVID-19 in the north, including 12 in intensive care, the B.C. CDC reported.
The region's death toll from the pandemic remained at 129.
Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 6,442 cases of COVID-19 in the Northern Health region, of which 5,971 people have recovered.
Cases were up across the province, as B.C. hit a vaccination milestone, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said.
"Today, we are reporting 1,262 new cases, for a total of 109,540 cases in British Columbia," Henry and Dix said. "Over one million doses (1,025,019) of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca-SII COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 87,606 of which are second doses. This is a significant milestone for all of us, and we will continue to work to get vaccines into arms as soon as we can."
In the the Northern Health region, 52,714 doses of all three COVID-19 vaccines have been administered – 49,8989 first doses and 2,816 second doses.
The bulk of those doses (36,248) are of the Pfizer vaccine, with Modern making up 11,225 and AstraZeneca 5,241.
"No matter what our age, or where we may be, our province is not yet protected from COVID-19. This is why we all need to follow all of the public health orders," Henry and Dix said. "Avoid indoor gatherings outside of your household and avoid travel. Get tested if you have even mild symptoms and use all of your layers of protection. This is how we will slow the spread and get ahead of the virus strains that are in our communities right now."
