The province’s top doctor is urging British Columbians to get an updated COVID-19 vaccine, and start looking at the shots less as a booster and more of an annual immunization similar to the flu shot.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry made the comments Wednesday, a day after the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) issued its own recommendation that the public get an updated COVID-19 vaccine.
“I am almost not calling it a booster dose anymore. It is more an updated dose of the vaccine,” Henry told Global News.
The province is preparing for a fall rollout of the latest vaccine formula, tailored specifically around the Omicron variant, which has remained dominant for nearly two years, and has remained “relatively stable” in recent months, according to Henry.
“The bivalent vaccines we had last fall had an omicron strain in them, but this one is updated to what we’re seeing circulate around the globe, but here in Canada and B.C. as well over the last few months,” Henry said.
“Similar to what we do with influenza, we look at what are the likely strains to be circulating and causing illness in the upcoming season, so that’s why I think it’s really important to get this updated vaccine, and it builds on the immunity that you’ve had from previous vaccinations.”
On Tuesday, NACI said Canadians should get an updated COVID-19 vaccine this fall if it has been six or more months since their last dose or COVID-19 infection.
Both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have started the process to get the new formulations of their mRNA COVID-19 vaccines approved by
Health Canada, the agency said.
The panel said new doses are particularly important for people aged 65 and up, long-term care residents, pregnant people and those with underlying medical conditions.
B.C. will offer the vaccine to anyone who wants one, but will focus its campaign particularly on those at the highest risk.
The BC Centre for Disease Control’s latest COVID-19 situation report showed hospitalizations from the virus at their lowest point since July 2021, averaging about 8.8 per week.
With case numbers falling and the virus receding as a threat in many people’s minds, the challenge for the province will be overcoming COVID-fatigue. Uptake on the vaccine has dropped consistently with every round of boosters.
“A lot of people put their hands up and said it is all too much; we need to get rid of all the possible barriers we can get rid of,” Vancouver physician Dr. Anna Wolak told Global News. “We need to ramp up the information and remind people why we are doing this.”
Wolak said the province also needs to prevent a repeat of the “hiccup”-laden rollout of the influenza vaccine last fall, and ensure that the process is as easy and smooth as possible.
Henry said the province is planning to ensure the process is as easy as possible, adding that people will be able to pre-register to have both their COVID dose and flu shot at the same time.
A single shot containing both vaccines, however, is not yet available.
She said despite the recent downward trend in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, early evidence suggests the province will likely get a fall “surge” of the virus, heightening the importance of getting an updated shot.
“We’re watching very carefully what’s happening in the southern hemisphere, but it is likely,” she said. “There’s still a lot we don’t yet know about COVID … we think its going to be seasonal because that’s the pattern we see with all these other respiratory viruses, so we expect we’re going to see an increase. It’s hard to know when.”
-With files from the Canadian Press