B.C. offering 'fall booster' to everyone 12 and older beginning in September
The B.C. government is expecting to offer a "fall booster" of COVID-19 vaccine to everyone 12 and older beginning in September, in preparation for what is expected to be a challenging winter for respiratory illnesses.
The new dose is being offered widely on the advice of the National Advisory Council on Immunization, whose guidance has been followed by provincial health officials throughout the pandemic. But the health officials urged the public not to become complacent, particularly as transmission and COVID-19 hospitalizations begin to surge once more. Modellers have declared another Omicron wave, fuelled by the BA.5 variant, is already underway, and expected to peak next month.
The announcement will come as B.C. sees a new surge of the disease. On Thursday, the number of patients in hospital with COVID-19 went up for the first time in two months.Experts believe this third wave of Omicron is being driven by the BA.5 subvariant, and will peak in August. “The second booster – or fourth dose – is still good to continue protection, because these people cannot elicit a good immune response,” said Dr. Horacio Bach, a clinical assistant professor at UBC’s Division of Infectious Diseases.
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