About 15,000 people in B.C. will be receiving an invitation to get a third shot of the COVID-19 vaccine.
This group of people is considered severely immunocompromised, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Monday.
“As a result of their medical condition, people who are immune-compromised have a reduced capacity to respond effectively to any vaccine,” she said.
“To these people, a third dose is needed to get that protection that the rest of us get from the regular dose schedule.”
The people identified in this group will receive an invitation to register to receive the third dose this week.
Another 120,000 people might need a third COVID-19 vaccine dose but an investigation is still underway, Henry said. These people are considered moderately immune-compromised.
About 300,000 people in B.C. are considered clinically extreme vulnerable to COIVD-19, Henry explained.
As B.C.’s vaccine card is now in effect, Health Minister Adrian Dix said weekly press conferences will be held on Tuesday afternoons going forward.
Henry started Monday’s conference by thanking the “millions of British Columbians” doing their part to put an end to the pandemic.
She also thanked all the health-care workers around the province, doing their jobs and working tirelessly to care for their patients.
Henry said now that the B.C. vaccine card is in effect, restrictions in place in the Interior Health region can start to be lifted and changed.
On Friday, B.C.’s COVID-19 cases and deaths continued to climb higher.
The province recorded 820 new cases along with nine new deaths, which is the highest one-day total since early June. The total number of people who have now died from complications of the virus is 1,856.
Of the new cases, 264 were in Fraser Health, 112 in Vancouver Coastal Health, 253 in Interior Health, 101 in Northern Health and 90 in Island Health.
Nineteen more people were in hospital, bringing that total to 281. Of those, five more people were in the intensive care unit, bringing that total to 135.
B.C.’s total case count since the start of the pandemic was 173,158 on Friday with 5,850 active cases.
WATCH: The full Sept. 13 B.C. COVID-19 update with Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix.
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